Monocyte Gene-Expression Profiles Associated With Childhood-Onset Type 1 Diabetes and Disease Risk: A Study of Identical Twins

show distinct gene expression. We hypothesize that monocyte activation in monozygotic (MZ) twin pairs discordant for child-hood-onset type 1 diabetes could reflect distinct stages of the disease process including diabetes susceptibility (differences between twins, both diabetic and nondiabetic, and control sub-jects) and/or disease progression (differences between diabetic and nondiabetic twins). RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS—We studied patterns of inflammatory gene expression in peripheral blood monocytes of MZ twin pairs (n 10 pairs) discordant for childhood-onset type 1 diabetes, normal control twin pairs (n 10 pairs), and healthy control subjects (n 51) using quantitative-PCR (Q-PCR). We tested the 24 genes previously observed by whole genome analyses and verified by Q-PCR in autoimmune diabetes and performed a hierarchical cluster analysis