Diabetes mellitus type 1 According to the current definition, two fasting glucose measurements above 126 mg/dl (7.0 mmol/l) is considered diagnostic for diabetes mellitus. In type 1, pancreatic beta cells in the islets of Langerhans are destroyed, decreasing endogenous insulin production. This distinguishes type 1's origin from type 2. Type 2 diabetes is characterized by insulin resistance, while type 1 diabetes is characterized by insulin deficiency, generally without insulin resistance. Another hallmark of type 1 diabetes is islet autoreactivity, which is generally measured by the presence of autoantibodies directed towards the beta cells. The appearance of diabetes-related autoantibodies has been shown to be able
Epigenetics of diabetes Type 2 small methylation differences at isolated CpG sites have large differences in gene-expression levels On a genome wide scale studies have proven that hypomethylation in genes known to be associated with type 2 diabetes has been associated with an increase in susceptibility for the disease. CpG sites in particular display a small but significant case of hypomethylation consistently.The odds of belonging to the Type 2 Diabetes group increased by 6.1% for every 1% decrease in methylation based on microarray-based assay. These observed methylation differences are capable of producing or indicating real expression differences, which lead to the observed enhanced disease risk.