An international team of scientists led by researchers from the British University of Exeter has developed a method by which it is possible to determine the tendency to develop type I diabetes in newborns. To do this, it is enough to take blood from the child, according to the publication Nature Medicine.
The method combined genetic analysis and detection of autoantibodies – biomarkers of diabetes that determine the predisposition to this disease.
The new approach is twice as good at predicting the development of diabetes in newborns as the old methods. He also predicts the appearance of ketoacidosis in children – this is a symptom when dangerous products of insufficient digestion of carbohydrates accumulate in the blood during insulin deficiency. Professor William Hagopian said that this will allow treatment to be started as early as possible if the infant is suspected of developing diabetes.
Scientists do not plan to stop in their research, with the help of it they want to find ways of early diagnosis of genetic disorders such as celiac disease.