How did Nick Jonas get diabetes?

zbeckabee

Apparently, he has type 1: Diabetes mellitus type 1 (type I diabetes, T1D, T1DM, IDDM, juvenile diabetes) is a form of diabetes mellitus. Type 1 diabetes is an autoimmune disease that results in destruction of insulin-producing beta cells of the pancreas. Lack of insulin causes an increase of fasting blood glucose (around 70-120 mg/dL in nondiabetic people) that begins to appear in the urine above the renal threshold (about 190-200 mg/dl in most people), thus connecting to the symptom by which the disease was identified in antiquity, sweet urine. Type 1 Diabetes is a polygenic disease, meaning many different genes contribute to its expression. Depending on locus or combination of loci, it can be dominant, recessive, or somewhere in between. The strongest gene, IDDM1, is located in the MHC Class II region on chromosome 6, at staining region 6p21. This is believed to be responsible for the histocompatibility disorder characteristic of type 1: Insulin-producing pancreas cells (beta cells) display improper antigens to T Cells. This eventually leads to the production of antibodies that attack these beta cells. Weaker genes are also located on chromosomes 11 and 18. Environmental factors can strongly influence expression of type 1. A study showed that for identical twins, when one twin had type 1 diabetes, the other twin only had type 1 30-50% of the time. Despite having the exact same genome, one twin had the disease, where the other did not; this shows that environmental factors, in addition to genetic factors, can influence disease prevalence. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Type_1_diabetes#Inheritance http://www.diabeteshealth.com/read/2007/04/26/5150/type-1-pop-star-nick-jonas-tells-his-story/ Jun 08 09, 7:07 PM

zbeckabee

CAUSES: — Type 1 diabetes usually develops when a person's immune system destroys the insulin-producing cells (called the beta cells) in the pancreas. This is called an autoimmune response. The cause of the abnormal immune response that destroys the beta cells is being actively studied. This process occurs over many months or years, during which there may be no signs or symptoms of diabetes. High blood sugar and its associated symptoms (frequent urination, thirst) do not usually occur until more than 90 percent of the beta cells have been destroyed, which greatly reduces the amount of insulin in the body. Type 1 diabetes may develop in people with a family history of type 1 diabetes, but may also develop in people with no family history of diabetes. In either case, the person has one or more genes that make them susceptible to the disease. Environmental factors, such as exposure to certain viruses and foods early in life, may trigger the autoimmune response. http://www.uptodate.com/patients/content/topic.do?topicKey=~ksmkFG.GcxbjV Jun 08 09, 7:10 PM