Introduction
Nowadays, it has become significantly difficult for physicians to differentiate between Type 1 Diabetes (T1D) and Type 2 Diabetes (T2D) especially for T1D, which is treatable with insulin injection and T2D that is treatable through the intake of a specific diet and loss of weight. Oram et al. (2015) provide a comprehensive review of the core of a generic risk, which is a new diagnostic tool to help in the identification of patients between 20 and 40 who require insulin treatment.
Such an approach will ensure that cases of misdiagnosis of Type 1 and 2 Diabetes are reduced and that the right treatment is offered to the right type of diabetes based on the adequate diagnosis. As such, the introduction of the generic risks score in the diagnosis of diabetes has a high potential for use in the correct classification of individuals based on a particular type of diabetes.
Summary of the Main Idea of the Research Findings
The focus of Oram et al. (2015) was to establish whether or not common generic variants can be instrumental in the discrimination of Type 1 Diabetes and Type 2 Diabetes, as well as help in the prediction of severe insulin deficiency among young adults with diabetes. To achieve the objective of this study, young adults aged between 20 and 40 years were used to examine whether it was possible for the generic risks to score to classify the study subjects according to severe insulin deficiency.
The results of the examination indicated that it was possible to discriminate Type 1 Diabetes and Type 2 Diabetes. Specifically, a T1D generic risks score greater than 0.280 is indicative of Type 1 Diabetes. A T1D generic risks score less than 0.234 is indicative of Type 2 Diabetes. The use of a T1D genetic risk score was enough to predict the progression of insulin deficiency among young adults under investigation.
Oram et al. (2015) noted that the combination of the common SNPs to form a genetic risk score could be useful in the discrimination of Type 1 Diabetes and Type 2 Diabetes. When used in young-onset adults, the T1D generic risks score can assist physicians in identifying patients who have a high chance of severe insulin development. Significantly, the capacity of the Type 1 Diabetes generic risks score to discriminate T1D and T2D does not depend on any other factors such as age at diagnosis, BMI, or the islet autoantibodies. For this reason, the score is a crucial addition to the classification of the various subtypes of diabetes among young adults.
Various factors contribute immensely to the significance of TID generic risks score as an appropriate diagnostic tool for the identification and classification of diabetic people according to the diabetes subtypes. One of the important features of the genetic risk score is that it does not depend on the time of diagnosis. Such a feature is an advantage compared to other diagnostic approaches. For example, the islet autoantibodies’ approach discriminative capacity is tied to the time of diagnosis and thus, reduces with time. On the other hand, C-peptide measurement is only effective in the discrimination of T1D and T2D over a period of 3 to 5 years. Such a situation is attributed to the honeymoon period.
Secondly, the adoption of the new technology implies that SNP genotyping becomes extremely simple, accurate, as well as cost-effective. The low-cost implications associated with the generic risks score discrimination is based on the fact that only a few SNPs are used.
In addition, the use of Type 1 Diabetes generic risk scores in hospitals is highly effective especially in the classification of diabetic patients whenever the autoantibody test results are not in line with clinical features. This is based on the fact that it is possible to classify over 80% of discordant patients using the Type 1 Diabetes generic risks score. Moreover, it is possible to use the TID generic risks score alongside other predictors like clinical features and autoantibodies for the purpose of estimating a patient with Type 1 Diabetes, as well as indicate the severity of insulin deficiency.
Conclusion
In spite of the significance of the generic risks score in the identification and classification of patients with diabetes, some concerns need to be addressed to enhance the efficiency of this approach. First, measuring BMI and automobiles at the time of diagnosis would provide useful findings as far as the discriminative capacity of the generic risks score is concerned. Secondly, there is a need to examine the contribution of all Type 1 Diabetes risk alleles in the discriminative capability of the generic risks score.
Based on these points, it is more likely that the usefulness of TID generic risks score can be improved in the future upon consideration of all variants, as well as the advancement of the sequencing and genotyping technologies. Nevertheless, the introduction of the generic risk scores is highly significant for the discrimination and classification of patients with diabetes as it can provide the basis for the right treatment.
Reference
Oram, R., Patel, K., Hill, A., Shields, B., McDonald, T., Jones, A.,… Weedon, M. (2015). A Type 1 Diabetes genetic risk score can aid discrimination between Type 1 and Type 2 Diabetes in young adults. Diabetes Care, 39(3), 337-344.