Role of Epigenetics in Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus in Tropics

Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus (T2D) is a prevalent disease with devastating complications especially in the tropical communities. T2D likely to result from many genes interacting with different environmental factors to produce a wide variation in the disease’s clinical course. Epigenetics addresses the relationship between genes, environmental exposure, and disease development. Additionally, epigenetics concerns heritable gene expression changes without changes in the DNA sequence itself, affecting how cells “read” genes. Many factors affect epigenetic modifications, such as age, lifestyle, family history, and disease status. Epigenetics plays a vital role in the pathology of T2D. Recent research surrounding epigenetics has shown that exposure of the fetus to various abnormal intrauterine environmental states like hyperglycemia and famine can also increase the risk of developing T2D. Since methylation of CpG islands may be heritable, epigenetic activity occurring in the developing fetal genome may result in lasting effects on our metabolic control. These lasting effects most likely introduce critical factors in the development of T2DM later in life. Thus, the influence that epigenetic mechanisms exert may be immensely important not only as a means by which environmental factors impact development of T2D but also in its role in establishing one’s risk profile for developing T2D even before birth. The nutritional quality and quantity provided to a developing embryo serves as a strong predictor of the development several risk factors associated with T2D postnatally. There is a growing interest in certain functional foods with epigenetic effects that potentially prevent T2D. This may be especially beneficial for tropical poor communities where treatment of T2D is an economic burden.