Diabetes mellitus type 2 estimated that 20% of people with diabetes in the United States do not realize that they have the disease. Diabetes mellitus type 2 is characterized by high blood glucose in the context of insulin resistance and relative insulin deficiency. This is in contrast to diabetes mellitus type 1 in which there is an absolute insulin deficiency due to destruction of islet cells in the pancreas and gestational diabetes mellitus that is a new onset of high blood sugars associated with pregnancy. Type 1 and type 2 diabetes can typically be distinguished based on the presenting circumstances. If the diagnosis is
Epigenetics of diabetes Type 2 found that there was an approximately twofold increase in DNA methylation of the PPARGC1A promoter of human islet cells from diabetics as compared to non-diabetic human islet cells. This means that expression from the PPARGC1A genes were turned down in the diabetic patients. Further testing revealed that the more PPARGC1A was expressed, the more insulin was released from the islets, and as expected, in diabetic patients there was less PPARGC1A expressed and also less insulin secreted. This data supports the idea that PPARGC1A expression is reduced in animal models of diabetes and human diabetes and is associated with impaired insulin