New screening for diabetes to spot early risk
EXPERTS have found a far more effective way of screening people for risk of diabetes.
A new risk score has been developed by scientists which takes into account detailed genetic information known to increase the chances of Type 1 diabetes.
This could be used to help to identity babies at highest risk of developing the condition in future life.
The score may also be used at the time of diabetes diagnosis to help decide if someone has Type 1 or Type 2 diabetes, which require very different treatments.
Researchers at Exeter University and Pacific Northwest Research Institute in Seattle, USA, found that their new risk score, the T1DGRS2, was nearly twice as efficient at identifying babies at high risk of Type 1 diabetes as existing methods – which involve measuring autoantibodies-proteins in the blood, indicating beta cell destruction.
Monitoring autoantibodies is expensive and particularly difficult in young children.
The study found the new test was also better at predicting Type 1 diabetes in adults.
Type 1 diabetes develops when the body’s immune system attacks insulinproducing beta cells in the pancreas, with the immune attack usually beginning several years before the symptoms of Type 1 diabetes appear.
Being able to identify who will develop Type 1 diabetes before its onset could help doctors to identify the condition before it becomes severe.
It could also help the development of effective treatments to prevent Type 1 diabetes.
The report’s senior author Dr Richard Oram said: “Type 1 diabetes has a strong genetic element that we are now able to measure very well.”
To develop the test, the team analysed genetic variation and gene interactions across the entire genome in 6,581 people with Type 1 diabetes.
They compared this to 9,247 control participants, which helped them to incorporate all known and recentlydiscovered genetic elements that can indicate Type 1 diabetes.
They then conducted simulations to see how their test compared to current genetic methods of diagnosis and screening.
The research results were published in the journal Diabetes Care and the research was funded by Diabetes UK.