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With more than £600,000 of funding from Diabetes UK, the UK Islet Autoantibody Registry aims to transform how people in the earliest stages of type 1 diabetes are monitored and supported, and act as a gateway to ground-breaking clinical trials and treatments.
The national registry will follow children and adults who have tested positive for type 1 diabetes autoantibodies through research studies or in clinical care.
Type 1 diabetes is a serious, lifelong autoimmune condition that affects up to 400,000 people in the UK. It occurs when the immune system mistakenly attacks insulin-producing cells in the pancreas, preventing the body from making insulin and causing dangerously high blood sugar levels.
When the immune system attacks, it produces proteins called autoantibodies, which can be detected with a simple blood test. Autoantibodies can appear months or years before symptoms of type 1 diabetes develop and an individual receives a diagnosis. People with two or more autoantibodies are almost certain to develop type 1 diabetes in their lifetime.
Unfortunately, many individuals who test positive for type 1 diabetes antibodies have not been studied over the longer term. This means researchers and clinicians have limited understanding of how best to support those living with the knowledge they are very likely to develop type 1 diabetes. They are also limited in their ability to tell people about new trials or treatments that could delay the onset of type 1 diabetes.