Type
1 diabetes is a life-long condition that can affect both children
and adults. It occurs when the body attacks and destroys the cells
in the pancreas that make insulin. The body needs insulin, a hormone,
to turn food into energy. The goal of this study is to increase our
understanding of how type 1 diabetes develops over time by following
at-risk individuals from birth or shortly after. Better understanding
may help to prevent diabetes or develop a cure.
As
you may know, type 1 diabetes (also known as insulin-dependent or
juvenile diabetes) is known to run in families. If a child's mother,
father, brother or sister have insulin dependent diabetes, his or
her risk of developing diabetes in increased. In studies of families
in which one or more members have diabetes we have found it is possible
to use a blood test for antibodies to the pancreas (called islet autoantibodies)
to identify other family members at risk for diabetes. There is evidence
that these antibodies to the pancreas develop within the first six
years of life.
What
are the goals of this trial?
The
aim of this study is to follow-up newborn children who have a parent,
brother or sister with type one diabetes, looking for any signs of
early diabetes. This serves three purposes:
early diagnosis of diabetes before the onset of symptoms should reduce
the likelihood of later problems
learning more about
how type 1 diabetes develops and who develops it will help researchers
to design better preventative treatments
children who participate
in this trial and test positive for antibodies may be eligible to
participate in diabetes prevention trials.
What
happens in this trial?
Parents would be invited to visit the Centre in the last three months of pregnancy to learn about
the study, and the family member with
diabetes would be asked to give a blood sample. This sample would be tested to find out that person's genetic
type, so that we could compare this with the genetic type of the newborn.
At the time of birth, we would arrange for blood to be collected from
the umbilical cord for genetic typing and measurement of islet autoantibodies.
We would then arrange to re-test the baby for islet autoantibodies
every 6-months until age six years.
We
expect the test to be positive in only about 4% of the infants tested.
The rest will have a negative test. A positive test for islet autoantibodies
means that the baby has a 50% risk of developing diabetes over the
next 10 years. Infants with a negative test may still develop diabetes,
but it is very unlikely.
If
the test is positive, we will perform further tests to better evaluate
the child's risk for diabetes development. Children at high risk for
type 1 diabetes are sometimes also at-risk for celiac disease, an
illness in which the body has an intolerance to the wheat protein,
gluten, and infants in the BabyDiab study may also be tested for antibodies
associated with this disease.
Who
can participate in this trial?
We
are looking for families with a father, mother or child who already
has type 1 diabetes, and who are currently expecting a new baby, or
who have a child under 1 year old. If this is you, and you are interested
in participating, please contact Chris Perry.
