Genetics and Diabetes

[mlz]

Hi,
Does anyone have any recent links of research pertaining to Type 1 Diabetes being genetic? And if so, is there mention to genetic testing that can be done for say a sibling or child with an immeditate family member with Diabetes?

We haven't checked up on the latest information and were wondering if there has been any new developments. We know about the connections of virus/infections being possible causes for the break down of cells in the pancreas.

Any thoughts, anyone?

Thanks! Great board.

P.S. On the discussion of being a 'diabetic' vs a person with diabetes, my husband said he didn't mind that, as much it being called a 'disease' vs a 'condition'. He prefers condition over disease. He thinks disease sounds like you 'caught' something.

[Rich47]

Not sure if this answers your question but ... There's a series of big national studies going on, called TrialNet, organized by JDRF and George Washington U., with lots of research hospitals and universities around the country participating. You can find a participating hospital near you, and more information, by calling 1-800-HALT-DM1. As part of this, they're doing what they call a natural history study, taking blood samples from close relatives of Type 1 diabetics. The object, for now, is to see who has antibodies that indicate that the immune system has begun attacking the pancreas, and to give you an idea, based on that, what the odds are of developing Type 1 in the next few years. (I don't think that at this point they're testing for specific genes, which I think is still down the road.) For people who appear to be on the way to developing it, they offer to put you in touch with experimental treatments that could slow the onset. My family participated because I have a son with Type 1, and it was some small comfort to learn that my other son does not have antibodies (though that is no guarantee he won't develop them down the road). At the hospital we went to, scientists gave a little symposium about this big project and other facets of it, and about the state of diabetes research in general. I found this, and participation in the study, to be useful, in part because it put us in touch with some people doing cutting-edge work, it put us on their mailing lists, it put us on the list of people they'll contact for future studies, etc. It's a foot in the door.

[JDRF-Team-ES]

Dear mlz,
When in doubt, I always go to the JDRF site.  There is a lot of information there on almost everything related to Type I Diabetes.  Go to www.jdrf.org and check the research link.

Also, I just heard of an NIH sponsored study at Wake Forest University in NC looking at the genetics of Type 1.  Here's the URL for that:
http://www.niddk.nih.gov/fund/diabetesspecialfunds/t1d_ctcr/study.asp?StudyID=57

You can also contact the North American study director at  ***@**** to see if he knows of any research.  Please mention that you read about it on the MedHelp JDRF forum.  

Let us know what you find.
Es