Identifying New Biomarkers to Treat Type 1 Diabetes

As the Head of the Department of Medicine, Surgery, and Neuroscience at the University of Siena, and Director of Diabetes and Clinical Nutrition Units at Policlinico University Hospital in Siena, Prof Dotta oversaw the international collaborative work. Beyond the National Center, additional support came from the European Union as part of the INNODIA project. Using advanced RNA sequencing technology that only requires a few microliters of blood, researchers identified a class of small noncoding RNAs, called circulating microRNAs, which could offer valuable diagnostic and prognostic tools for T1DM.

Prof Dotta concludes,

“Our research identifies potential biomarkers that could change the way we understand and treat type 1 diabetes. This discovery, combined with the evidence that it is also a heterogeneous disease, offers hope for more targeted and personalized therapies. I also emphasize that after more than a century since the discovery of insulin, the development of therapeutic strategies has just begun. This is the right step towards protecting the beta cells in the pancreas and blocking cells in the immune system before the onset of the disease.

The US Food and Drug Administration has already approved the first monoclonal antibody drug directed against T lymphocytes. In this context, the personalized medicine approach using specific circulating microRNAs may represent excellent candidates to identify and treat subgroups with the appropriate therapeutic strategy. Our research suggests that it may be possible to use a simple blood test to measure circulating microRNAs and identify two distinct subgroups of those with type 1 diabetes. Furthermore, we can apply new personalized treatment strategies, based on specific immunological and clinical characteristics, to improve the diagnosis and the management of the disease.”

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The Foundation’s editorial staff