Studying the blood of the umbilical cords of children later diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes, an international group of scientists identified markers in the blood that point to the possibility of said later diagnosis. While this does not mean that diabetes is predetermined, it suggests diabetes is shaped during a period when systems are still highly adaptable. It also opens the door to a future test to screen for Type 1 diabetes in the womb.
Researchers in Sweden were already studying 16,683 babies as part of a group known as All Babies in Southeast Sweden (ABIS). The population-birth cohort follows babies born in a particular region of Sweden between 1997 and 1999. For each child, extensive information across time was provided by the family and later the individuals themselves, including periodic biological samples. The ABIS participants are followed to present day.
For the new study, published in Nature Communications, scientists used machine learning to identify which proteins are related to the risk of developing type 1 diabetes, using the cord blood of a subset of these individuals.
Within the group, the researchers discovered protein markers that are observable at birth that are strongly associated with the development of future insulin-dependent diabetes. Scientists also saw that some of these markers linked to future disease may be influenced by specific polyfluoroalkyl chemicals, or PFAS, to which the mother was exposed during pregnancy.
“Our study shows that a combination of several factors during pregnancy increases the risk of future development of type 1 diabetes,” said corresponding author Johnny Ludvigsson, senior professor at Linköping University. “This suggests that no single method will prevent the disease, but different early changes of lifestyle and environment may gradually make type 1 diabetes less common.”
The researchers say they see “a bright future” for cord blood proteomics in disease prediction.
Data from University of Florida