Neonatal Diabetes Mellitus
Diabetes diagnosed in babies is quite rare. Diabetes diagnosed within the first 6 months of life is called neonatal diabetes mellitus. Neonatal diabetes may be permanent or temporary
Babies diagnosed with diabetes often have a single gene cause (monogenic). Those diagnosed before 6 months of age have an 80% chance of that being linked to a DNA issue. For those diagnosed from 6 months to 1 year, that percentage decreases to about 5%.
Babies are often misdiagnosed with type 1 diabetes before being diagnosed with monogenic diabetes. Here at the University of Chicago, we include babies diagnosed less than 1 year of age in our studies.
Diabetes is a chronic condition where the blood sugar remains high. There are many causes but typically the pancreas produces insufficient insulin. Insulin is a hormone needed to allow sugar (glucose) to enter cells to produce energy.
People with monogenic diabetes may pass it on to children or future generations. Each gene has a different inheritance pattern.
The most common neonatal diabetes genes are listed below – Click on each to learn more
KCNJ11
ABCC8
INS or insulin gene
6q24 related diabetes
Some less common neonatal diabetes genes are listed below – Click on each to learn more
EIF2AK3
FOXP3
GATA6
GCK
GLIS3
HNF1B
IER3IP1
NEUROD1
NEUROG3
PDX1
PTF1A
RFX6
PAX6
SLC19A2
SLC2A2
WFS1
