New Measurement Technologies for Predicting and Diagnosing Type 1 Diabetes

Presented by Patricia Mueller, PhD
Session I- Technologies for Metabolic Monitoring
Friday, October 29, 2004

Reviewed by Joelle Escoffery, PhD

The risk of developing type 1 diabetes is thought to be attributable to both environmental and genetic factors. Recent advances have made it possible to determine type 1 diabetes risk through the use of 2 methods: 1) genetic tests for HLA alleles, and 2) autoantibody tests to detect preclinical autoimmunity. This 2-fold approach is being used in a research setting by groups like The Environmental Determinants of Diabetes in the Young (TEDDY) consortium. The TEDDY group conducts genetic screening in newborns. This screening is followed up with autoantibody screening among people with a genetic risk. The goal of this approach is to identify environmental factors that may trigger diabetes development in genetically at-risk individuals. Autoantibody tests can also be used to distinguish between type 1 and type 2 diabetes. The Search for Diabetes in Youth Study (SEARCH) aims to develop practical approaches to assist clinicians in the accurate classification of diabetes type. The Diabetes Autoantibody Standardization Program (DASP) is working to improve the measurement of autoantibodies for the prediction of type 1 diabetes by evaluating new technologies for measuring autoantibodies and developing reference methods and materials to assess accuracy. Thus, many groups are using technology to improve the ability to predict and accurately diagnose type 1 diabetes.