Type 1 diabetes genetic risk score predicts progression

By Editor
30th August 2018
Research, Type 1 diabetes

A genetic risk score has proven to be successful at predicting progression to type 1 diabetes in people at risk of the condition, according to research published by Diabetes Care.

The type 1 diabetes genetic risk score (GRS) independently predicts progression to the condition and improves prediction along stages in autoantibody-positive relatives, according to the results of the international study.

The study includes researchers from Texas Children’s Hospital, University of South Florida, University of Colorado School of Medicine, University of Exeter, Royal Melbourne Hospital, Wake Forest School of Medicine, University of Miami and University of Florida.

They tested the ability of a type 1 diabetes GRS to predict progression of islet autoimmunity and type 1 diabetes in at-risk individuals.

A total of  1,244 people were studied, they did not have type 1 diabetes but they had relatives with the condition and also had one or more positive autoantibodies, who were genotyped with Illumina ImmunoChip. They were from the TrialNet Pathway to Prevention study.

Summarising the results, the researchers said: “Higher T1D [type 1 diabetes] GRS significantly increased the rate of progression to T1D adjusting for DPT-1 Risk Score, age, number of positive autoantibodies, sex, and ethnicity (hazard ratio [HR] 1.29 for a 0.05 increase, 95% CI 1.06–1.6; P = 0.011).

“Progression to T1D was best predicted by a combined model with GRS, number of positive autoantibodies, DPT-1 Risk Score, and age (7-year time-integrated AUC = 0.79, 5-year AUC = 0.73). Higher GRS was significantly associated with increased progression rate from single to multiple positive autoantibodies after adjusting for age, autoantibody type, ethnicity, and sex (HR 2.27 for GRS >0.295, 95% CI 1.47–3.51; P = 0.0002).”

They concluded: “The T1D GRS independently predicts progression to T1D and improves prediction along T1D stages in autoantibody-positive relatives.”

To access the study, click here.

Comments (0)

Register an account or login to comment