Type 1 Diabetes Community Celebrates Research Milestone During National Diabetes Month

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OKLAHOMA CITY, OKLA. – More than 250,000 people have learned their risk of developing Type 1 diabetes (T1D) through TrialNet screening. TrialNet and Breakthrough T1D announced the research milestone as part of National Diabetes Month, observed each November to raise awareness about diabetes and encourage families to take action to protect their health.

The OU Health Harold Hamm Diabetes Center is a primary site for TrialNet screenings in Oklahoma. Over the past 10 years, more than 1,400 children and adults have been screened for diabetes.

“As a major site for TrialNet enrollment and its variety of studies in the state, we are proud that we have been able to forward the science of Type 1 diabetes with the help of so many patients and families here in Oklahoma,” said David Sparling, MD, Ph.D., the CHF Paul and Ann Milburn Chair in Pediatric Diabetes and Endocrinology in the OU College of Medicine and chief of Pediatric Diabetes and Endocrinology at OU Health. “The research done through TrialNet has not only helped identify children and adults at risk for the development of Type 1 diabetes here in the state, but has also been integral in the advancement of diabetes care, helping bring the discoveries from TrialNet all the way from the bench to the bedside for our patients.”

Research shows that people who have a relative with T1D are 15 times more likely to develop the disease than the general population. The general risk of developing T1D is about 1 in 300. For people who have a relative with T1D, they have a risk of 1 in 20.

"These exciting results not only raise the awareness for the risks for T1D, but advance scientific progress and the Harold Hamm Diabetes Center mission to prevent T1D before it starts," said Jed Friedman, Ph.D., director of the OU Health Harold Hamm Diabetes Center.

TrialNet offers families personal risk screening to identify the autoantibodies that signal the early stages of T1D. During screening, a blood sample is collected and TrialNet tests it for up to five autoantibodies. These autoantibodies are often detectable years before a person starts to develop symptoms. Early detection and monitoring of people with autoantibodies reduces the risk of diabetic ketoacidosis—a serious and potentially life-threatening condition.

TrialNet’s research helped develop the concept of stages that occur before T1D diagnosis, which are used in eligibility criteria for treatment or clinical trials that hope to delay disease progression. For example, the stages of T1D were used to identify participants in TrialNet’s Teplizumab Prevention Study, which led to the first FDA-approved immune therapy to delay T1D in people at risk of progressing to a clinical diagnosis.

“Thanks to our extraordinary network of research teams, partners, study participants, and families, we have reached a landmark in our efforts to treat and prevent T1D,” said TrialNet Chair Kevan Herold, C.N.H. Long Professor of Immunobiology and Medicine at Yale University. “Our journey has led to a treatment to delay the disease, but we are not done. We continue to focus our efforts on developing new ways to predict risk and expand screening.”

Breakthrough T1D and TrialNet are spearheading worldwide initiatives to increase T1D screening, and to provide guidance for monitoring and treating those with early stage T1D. Research shows that people with early stage T1D – two or more persistent T1D-related autoantibodies – have an almost 100 percent chance of a clinical diagnosis (Stage 3) in their lifetime. Due to this elevated risk, TrialNet also offers screening and monitoring to people in the general population found to have one or more T1D-related autoantibodies outside of TrialNet.

“Breakthrough T1D is proud to support TrialNet and recognize this significant milestone in type 1 diabetes early detection,” said Sanjoy Dutta, PhD, chief scientific officer at Breakthrough T1D. “TrialNet’s research has played a key role in advancing the broader understanding of T1D progression and developing the first disease-modifying therapy that can delay a clinical diagnosis. Expanding type 1 diabetes screening and accelerating pathways to prevention are priorities we share. Screening programs like TrialNet are critical in driving us toward a world without T1D.”

TrialNet offers three free, convenient screening options for relatives of people with T1D: an in-home test kit (using a fingerstick), a kit to take to a participating lab for a blood draw, or in-person screening at a TrialNet site or event.

Screening is available to people ages 2-45 who live in the United States or Canada who have a relative with T1D. Children under 18 who have negative results can be rescreened every two years. For more information about screening, TrialNet locations, and upcoming screening events, visit TrialNet.org.