Gene pairs linked to diabetes blood marker in people
In 3,778 people without diabetes, an observational genetic analysis linked combinations of variants in different genes to a marker used to diagnose diabetes.
Our read
Mechanisms- Studied:
- Genetic association study of 3,778 non-diabetic people of European ancestry (Dose-response, multicenter)
- What changed:
- HbA1c blood marker levels varied with gene-pair interactions, which explained ~0.18–0.32% of variation
- The catch:
- Unaccounted ancestry differences and family relatedness could inflate the Framingham replication results
- Why it’s aging research:
- It bears on staying healthy in midlife and later life.
Editor of record: Boris Djordjevic · AgingResearch.News
The 3,778 people of European ancestry without diabetes in this observational genetic analysis averaged 69.81 years old; about 56% were women. They belonged to the Long Life Family Study, which recruited exceptionally long-lived families.
The analysis tested 133 gene variants already linked to hemoglobin A1c, a blood marker used to diagnose type 2 diabetes. Six pairs showed statistical interactions: a variant's association with the marker depended on the variant carried in another gene. These pairs combined variants in the HK1 gene with variants in either the GCK or G6PC2 genes. Each interaction also appeared in at least one of two independent cohorts without diabetes: 1,456 Framingham Offspring Study participants, averaging 60.49 years old, and 2,094 Health and Retirement Study participants, averaging 73.55 years old.
Why it matters
Hemoglobin A1c is associated with aging, cognitive performance and mortality. The authors suggest that HK1 and GCK are likely involved in biological processes underlying healthy aging.
Caveats
The analysis assessed a blood marker, not healthy aging or lifespan, and the initial sample covered only people of European ancestry without diabetes. One replication cohort lacked information needed to account for family relationships and ancestry differences that could influence the associations.
From the paper
- Participants
As shown in Table 1, a total of 3778 non-diabetic LLFS participants, including 1037 from BU, 1014 from DK, 767 from NY, and 960 from PT, were included in this study.
Quoted word for word from the full text on mdpi.com.
The paper
Washington University in St. Louis
International Journal of Molecular Sciences, Oct 31, 2026, Open access, CC BY
Comments
Be the first to comment.