Abstract:

Diabetes mellitus (DM) is an important disease caused by insulin deficiency or insulin receptor resistance and characterized by hyperglycemia. The prevalence rate of DM is increasing rapidly worldwide and its associated complications affect the quality of life of patients adversely. In addition, high medical costs for its treatment bring significant economic burden on countries. Epigenetics is the reversible modifications on the genome, which lead to changes in gene expression without any alteration in the DNA sequence. Epigenetic modifications can easily be affected by environmental factors and abnormalities in these modifications have been linked to many diseases including cancer and neurodegenerative disorders. In this review, we will summarize the relationship of DM and its complications with DNA and RNA methylation, which are among the most important modifications.

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