Overview of Transcriptomic Research on Type 2 Diabetes: Challenges and Perspectives

Abstract

Type 2 diabetes (T2D) is a common chronic disease whose etiology is known to have a strong genetic component. Standard genetic approaches, although allowing for the detection of a number of gene variants associated with the disease as well as differentially expressed genes, cannot fully explain the hereditary factor in T2D. The explosive growth in the genomic sequencing technologies over the last decades provided an exceptional impetus for transcriptomic studies and new approaches to gene expression measurement, such as RNA-sequencing (RNA-seq) and single-cell technologies. The transcriptomic analysis has the potential to find new biomarkers to identify risk groups for developing T2D and its microvascular and macrovascular complications, which will significantly affect the strategies for early diagnosis, treatment, and preventing the development of complications. In this article, we focused on transcriptomic studies conducted using expression arrays, RNA-seq, and single-cell sequencing to highlight recent findings related to T2D and challenges associated with transcriptome experiments.

Current Status and Prospects of the Single-Cell Sequencing Technologies for Revealing the Pathogenesis of Pregnancy-Associated Disorders

“…It might be crucial to study the genetic and environmental factors associated with T2D in relation to the risk of the development of hyperglycemia in pregnancy. The findings of the transcriptomic studies of T2D using the scRNA-seq approach were reviewed by Tonyan et al [ 10 ]. The application of single-cell sequencing technology has shown the high proliferative capacity of pancreatic progenitor cells and their developmental heterogeneity and dedifferentiation processes in adult T2D patients.…”

“…To date, a lot of findings have been accumulated in the analysis of gene expression changes associated with pregnancy abnormalities [ 1 , 2 , 3 , 4 , 5 , 6 , 7 , 8 , 9 , 10 , 11 , 12 , 13 , 14 , 15 , 16 ]. Despite the aforementioned progress in using transcriptome analysis methods in various pregnancy-associated disorders, the etiologies of these diseases remain unexplored or not fully understood.…”

Transcriptomic Profile of Lin-Sca1+c-kit (LSK) cells in db/db mice with long-standing diabetes

“…The transcriptomics studies have strengthened our knowledge of genetic factors associated with the development and associated outcomes of diabetes. Importantly, different groups have utilized the insulin-targeted organs, such as the pancreas, liver, skeletal muscles, adipose tissues, etc., for gene expression studies reflecting the dominance of inflammatory immune responses in the pathogenesis of diabetes (Corbi et al, 2020; Lin et al, 2020; Tonyan et al, 2022); however, LSK transcriptome under long-standing diabetes has not been studied well. In addition to mRNA targets, non-coding RNAs like micro RNAs (miRNA) have been widely explored (He et al, 2021).…”

Transcriptomic Analysis from Normal Glucose Tolerance to T2D of Obese Individuals Using Bioinformatic Tools

“…Consequently, DAG can activate protein kinase C (PKC) in muscle and liver [ 20 ], inhibiting insulin signaling and promoting skeletal muscle and liver insulin resistance, leading to systemic insulin resistance [ 21 ] and a variety of metabolic disorders such as hyperglycemia, hypertension, dyslipidemia, non-alcoholic fatty liver (NAFLD) and T2D [ 22 ]. Several studies revealed differentially expressed genes (DEGs) associated to insulin resistance [ 23 ]. However, the difference in transcriptomic progression and core pathways affected from normal glucose-tolerant obese individuals to T2D obese individuals in WAT is still unclear.…”