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Researchers Announce ''Breakthrough Discovery'' in Type-2 Diabetes Using Illumina's HumanHap300 and Human-1 Genotyping BeadChips

Posted on: Tuesday, 13 February 2007, 06:00 CST

Illumina (NASDAQ:ILMN) today announced that researchers using the Infinium® HumanHap300 and Human-1 BeadChips uncovered four important gene variations that increases the risk of developing type-2 diabetes, the most common form of the disease. These results were published in the journal, Nature, and are believed to explain up to 70 percent of the genetic background of type-2 diabetes.

Led by endocrinologist Rob Sladek, M.D. at the McGill University Health Centre (MUHC) and Genome Quebec Innovation Centre, together with Constantin Polychronakos, M.D. at the MUHC, and Professor Philippe Froguel from the Division of Medicine at Imperial College London, this case-control study of 392,935 single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) revealed that patients who developed type-2 diabetes shared common gene variations on chromosomes 8, 10, and 11.

"We systematically searched the entire genome to identify genes that predispose people to developing diabetes," said Dr. Rob Sladek. "Our findings are proof that using Illumina's whole-genome analysis technology expedited this discovery, and moved us quickly to the next stage of researching the disease's process."

"Illumina's technology has enabled me to finally perform the kind of quality studies that I have wanted to do for 20 years," said Professor Philippe Froguel. "Even though the genetic causes of diabetes have long been studied, only a few variants that represent a small risk of why people develop this disease have been uncovered. Our recent findings demonstrate that we now have a first-class test to predict genetic risk for the most common form of diabetes."

Research for the study was funded by grants from Genome Quebec, Genome Canada, and the Canadian Foundation for Innovation. Genome Quebec has had a longstanding relationship with Illumina and is a flagship organization in the Company's CSPro™ Program (www.illumina.com/CSPro).

"Less than three months ago key findings for Crohn's disease and Parkinson's disease were also uncovered using the HumanHap300 BeadChip, and published in the Science and Lancet journals," said Jay Flatley, Illumina's President and Chief Executive Officer. "Within one year of launching this product, researchers have conducted genotyping studies that have quickly unveiled key genetic variations for a series of complex diseases."

According to the American Diabetes Association, diabetes is a disease in which the body does not produce or properly use insulin. The cause of diabetes continues to be a mystery, although both genetics and environmental factors play a role. There are 20.8 million children and adults in the United States, or seven percent of the population, who have diabetes. While an estimated 14.6 million have been diagnosed, 6.2 million people (or nearly one-third) are unaware that they have the disease.

About the HumanHap300 and Human-1 Genotyping BeadChips

Illumina's HumanHap300 and Human-1 BeadChips enable whole-genome genotyping powered by the Infinium Assay, which enables intelligent SNP selection utilizing tagSNPs. The revolutionary Infinium Assay combined with BeadChips allows large-scale interrogation of variations in the human genome, accelerating the ability of researchers to cost-effectively unlock the genetic basis of disease. The HumanHap300 is also available in a two-sample BeadChip (HumanHap300-Duo), or can be customized with up to 60,800 additional custom SNPs (HumanHap300-Duo+). For more information about Infinium technology, please visit www.illumina.com/infinium.

About Illumina

Illumina (www.illumina.com) is developing next-generation tools for the large-scale analysis of genetic variation and function.

"Safe Harbor" Statement under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995: this release may contain forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties. Among the important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those in any forward-looking statements are the costs and outcome of Illumina's litigation with Affymetrix, our ability to effectively integrate our recent acquisition of Solexa, Inc., Illumina's ability to further develop and commercialize its BeadArray technologies and to deploy new gene expression and genotyping products and applications for its platform technology, Illumina's ability to manufacture robust Sentrix® arrays and Oligator® oligonucleotides, Illumina's ability to scale and integrate CyVera technology, Illumina's ability to further scale oligo synthesis output and technology to satisfy market demand derived from the Company's collaboration with Invitrogen, and other factors detailed in the Company's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission including its recent filings on Forms 10-K and 10-Q or in information disclosed in public conference calls, the date and time of which are released beforehand. Illumina disclaims any intent or obligation to update these forward-looking statements beyond the date of this release.

Source: Business Wire

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