Abstract
The genetic marker for diabetes is useful not only for analysis of the molecular mechanism of its pathogenesis but also for detection of high risk subjects, analysis of the clinical course and estimation of prognosis.
The blood types ABO, MN, P, Lewis, Kidd, and Rh were examined as the genetic marker in patients with adult-onset NIDDM (32), adult-onset patients on insulin<20U/day (14), adult-onset patients on insulin≥20 U/day (26), and patients with juvenile-onset IDDM (76): total148 cases. The frequency of P (+) blood type in adult-onset patients on insulin and Lewis Le (a+) and Le (a-, b+) of juvenile IDDM patients was significantly lower than that of other types of diabetics and also of the nornal population in the Tokyo area.There was no difference in prevalence of any of the other blood types in these patients.
These results indicate that there is some association between blood type and certain types of diabetes.However, it still remains to be clarified whether this association is really the linkage of these two genes or not.
