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Comment
. 2011 Nov;60(11):2685-7.
doi: 10.2337/db11-1104.

FUT2 nonfunctional variant: a "missing link" between genes and environment in type 1 diabetes?

Ping Yang  1 , Hong-Liang Li, Cong-Yi Wang
Affiliations
Comment

FUT2 nonfunctional variant: a "missing link" between genes and environment in type 1 diabetes?

Ping Yang et al. Diabetes. 2011 Nov.
No abstract available

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Figures

FIG. 1.
FIG. 1.
A model for the potential implication of interactions between the FUT2 nonsecretor status and the gut microbiome in the pathogenesis of type 1 diabetes (T1D). The FUT2 nonsecretor (se) allele was naturally selected under evolutionary pressure to protect hosts against bacterial, fungi, and viral infections by altering the profile of mucosa glycosation, which then prevents the adherence of microorganisms to the mucosal epithelial cells and the mucus layer lining the gastric epithelium. While this protective effect is beneficial for host defense, it also imbalances the microbiome in the gut associated with decreased antigenic stimulation to the immune system in early life of subjects in the modern society, which would predispose those individuals homozygous for the nonsecretor allele with increased risk to the development of type 1 diabetes. (A high-quality digital representation of this figure is available in the online issue.)
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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