ABSTRACT
Diabetes mellitus (DM) refers to a number of disorders that share the common feature of elevated blood glucose levels. The classification accepted by the World Health Organization (WHO) (1,2) and theAmericanDiabetesAssociation (ADA)(3,4) combinesbothclinical stagesofhyperglycemia and the etiological types. Two main subtypes of diabetes are type 1, either autoimmune or idiopathic, and type 2, attributable to insulin resistance, insulin secretiondefects, or both.Although diabetes has been known for centuries our understanding of the etiology and pathogenesis of this disease is still incomplete. Type1 is characterizedbydeficiencyof insulindue todestructive lesions in pancreatic b-cells. It occurs typically in young subjects, butmay affect people of any age. Type 2 diabetes comprises about 80% to 90% of all cases. Type 2 is a heterogenous, polygenic disorder resulting from interaction between susceptibility genes and lifestyle/environmental factors.
