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Diabetes and Hemochromatosis

  • Diabetes and Other Diseases-Emerging Associations (JJ Nolan, Section Editor)
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Abstract

The common form of hereditary hemochromatosis is an autosomal recessive disorder most prevalent in Caucasians that results in excessive iron storage. The clinical manifestations of hemochromatosis are protean. HFE genotype, which determines the degree of iron overload and duration of disease have profound effects on disease expression. The prevalence of diabetes in this population has likely been underestimated because of studies that include a broad range of ethnicities and associating diabetes with allele frequency in spite of the decreased risk of diabetes in heterozygotes compared with homozygotes. Loss of insulin secretory capacity is likely the primary defect contributing to development of diabetes with insulin resistance playing a secondary role. Phlebotomy can ameliorate the defects in insulin secretion if initiated early. Screening a select population of individuals with type 2 diabetes may identify patients with hemochromatosis early and substantially impact individual clinical outcomes.

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Acknowledgment

This publication and work described herein was supported by the NIH National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences (1ULTR001067, DM); the NIH National Institute for Diabetes, Digestive, and Kidney Diseases (T32DK007115, CM; and DK081842, DM); and the Research Service of the Veterans Administration.

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T. Creighton Mitchell and Donald A. McClain declare that they have no conflict of interest.

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This article does not contain any studies with human or animal subjects performed by any of the authors.

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  1. Department of Medicine, Division of Endocrinology, University of Utah, 15 North 2030 East, Salt Lake City, UT, 84108, USA

    T. Creighton Mitchell & Donald A. McClain

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  1. T. Creighton Mitchell
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  2. Donald A. McClain
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Correspondence to Donald A. McClain.

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This article is part of the Topical Collection on Diabetes and Other Diseases-Emerging Associations

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Creighton Mitchell, T., McClain, D.A. Diabetes and Hemochromatosis. Curr Diab Rep 14, 488 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11892-014-0488-y

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