by Danielle Bradshaw from In The Cloud Copy

The National Institutes of Health is funding a study throughout the entire United States with the goal of figuring out what causes certain rare types of diabetes. There have been some cases of unusual forms of diabetes that have baffled doctors for years. The study will be the result of 20 separate research establishments coming together to detect and observe new versions of diabetes, research why they differ from traditional types, and determine what causes them.

The Means of Discovery

Screening for atypical diabetes will be done by the Rare and Atypical Diabetes Network or RADIANT and it’s going to consist of the screening of around 2000 patients that fit the parameters of unusual or rare features – meaning that they have a form of diabetes that doesn’t have characteristics that fall under types 1 or 2.

Patients with unusual forms of diabetes will typically be categorized and treated according to whether or not they suffer from type 1 or type 2. Someone that has a rare type of diabetes might be treated and diagnosed as though they have one of the common variations even if display symptoms that may or may not fit the diagnoses.

These uncommon traits could present as a person with type 2 diabetes who doesn’t show any risk factors usually associated with type two diabetes, like being diagnosed in their adult years or having a known history of diabetes in their families. There’s also the chance that a patient with an uncommon kind of diabetes could have an abnormal reaction to the standard treatment options.

Dr. Christine Lee from the NIH’s National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases department said that people who have abnormal types of diabetes are often frustrated that their diabetes is so hard to treat compared to that of other people. She says that with RADIANT, they could better help patients and general diabetic healthcare at large by discovering and researching new kinds of diabetes to figure out what it is that makes certain kinds of diabetes differ so much from others.

Compiling the Data

The RADIANT research team will use a combination of blood samples, physical examinations, gene sequences, questionnaires, and multiple other sorts of testing. Those who are found to have currently unknown variations of diabetes might be asked to participate in a few extra tests. Some family members of the participants could also be asked to join the study.

Dr. Jeffrey Krishner, the director of the University of South Florida’s (USF), Tampa Health Informatics Institute, says that the overarching goal is to compile an exhaustive explanation for both the clinical and genetic traits of these unusual types of diabetes. The team is hoping that the data they gather will aid them in creating new protocols for diagnosing diabetes, help them find new screening markers, as well as single out therapy targets for new medications with more precision in how they treat this disease.

The study is being organized by USF, with Baylor College of Medicine and the University of Chicago leading it. Baylor and the Broad Institute in Cambridge Massachusetts are in charge of gene sequencing and the University of Florida in Gainesville is responsible for providing lab services. The other organizations taking part in this study are:

• Vanderbilt University, Nashville Tennessee
• Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston
• Washington University in St. Louis
• Columbia University, New York City
• Duke University, Durham, North Carolina
• NorthShore University Health System, Chicago
• Indiana University, Indianapolis
• Geisinger Health System, Danville, Pennsylvania
• University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill
• University of Colorado, Denver
• University of Michigan, Ann Arbor
• University of Maryland, Baltimore
• Seattle Children’s Hospital, Seattle
• SUNY Downstate Health Sciences University, Brooklyn
• University of Washington, Seattle

NIDDK’s director, Dr. Griffin P. Rodgers, says that the research that they can gather from the RADIANT study will help better understand the less frequently seen variants of diabetes. Dr. Rodgers goes on to say that their findings throughout the study may give more insight into the various uncommon forms of diabetes and improve the quality of life for those that living with them, their caretakers, and their loved ones.

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