Methylation of DNA in Children and Adolescents With Type 1 Diabetes Mellitus (METHYLDIAB)

Type 1 Diabetes Mellitus (T1DM) is a well-studied autoimmune disease resulting in insulin deficiency due to selective β-cell destruction. Epigenetics is a novel field of biology studying the inherited changes in deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) expression which cannot be attributed to base sequence alteration. A relatively limited number of studies are published until now concerning T1DM in children and adolescents addressing epigenetics changes in DNA expression. The purpose of the present study is to analyze the methylation status of DNA within the promoter region of specific susceptibility genes such as Protein tyrosine phosphatase, non-receptor type 22 (PTPN-22), Insulin (INS) and Human leukocyte antigen G (HLA-G) genes.