The number of children with Type 1 diabetes (T1D) is increasing worldwide, particularly in those under 5 years of age. T1D is conventionally classified as an autoimmune disease in which the immune system attacks insulin-producing cells within the pancreas. However, T1D in fact represents a diverse group of affected individuals. This diversity stems from several factors, including variation in the cause and course of immune system activation, in the ability of insulin-producing cells to survive this attack, and in the environment. There may be several subtypes of T1D. As a pediatric endocrinologist and diabetes research scientist, my ability to effectively treat a specific T1D individual may be limited by our understanding of these subtypes. My goal is to gain insight into why T1D develops in order to tailor effective treatment for each individual child that I see. In recent years, there have been enormous advances in the ability to gather genetic and metabolite information, as well as the ability to analyze and interpret these vast amounts of data. My intention is to bring these new technologies to our T1D patients and apply them in the clinical setting. The specific goal of our project is to build a comprehensive clinical database and biorepository of samples from T1D patients at Rady Children’s Hospital of San Diego, and then to apply innovative computational techniques in order to identify specific subtypes of diabetes. We want to learn “what type of Type 1 diabetes” each of our patients has so we can better target specific therapies for each child, improve our clinical practice, and develop novel approaches to preventing this disease.
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What Type of Type 1 Diabetes Do You Have?
1. What Type of Type 1 Diabetes
Do You Have?
Jane J. Kim, MD
University of California, San Diego
Rady Children’s Hospital of San Diego
2. 2
All children with type 1 diabetes (T1D) require insulin after
insulin-producing cells in pancreas are attacked by the
immune system.
Pancreas makes little to no insulin Insulin treatment is required
3. Although everyone with T1D shares this background...
…all children with T1D are not all the same
5. There may be different subtypes of T1D.
By knowing these subtypes, we can tailor specific
therapy for each individual, making it easier for them
to manage their diabetes.
7. MetabolomeGenomeClinical record
We have the ability to collect, store & analyze these data
Gut microbiome
Genome: the complete set of DNA, including your genes
Metabolome: the complete set of small-molecule chemicals
produced and consumed in your body
Gut microbiome: the population of microbes within your intestine,
containing over 3 million bacterial genes
8. We can then use innovative computational techniques to
integrate all the data from these different platforms
MetabolomeGenomeClinical record Gut microbiome
9. By using this strategy, we will be able to identify subtypes of T1D for each
child and better understand the cause and progression of this disease
This database and biorepository can ultimately be used industrywide to
address broad research questions about T1D and to generate new
treatment approaches
10. 10
Improve how diabetes doctors manage care for their patients
Better target specific therapies for each child
Continue to pursue new approaches to treat and prevent
diabetes
By learning “what type of Type 1 diabetes” each of
our patients has, we can…
