Screening

Diabetic ketoacidosis (DKA) is a phrase no person with T1D ever wants to hear. It’s a serious complication that can occur in people with T1D, and it can result in life-threatening complications and death. People with T1D know what to do to avoid it—but people who have yet to be diagnosed do not. That’s why, unfortunately, a significant percentage of people experience DKA at diagnosis. Thanks to JDRF-funded research, we have a solution to prevent this: Global, universal screening.

Our Approach

JDRF-funded research has discovered that the presence of two or more specific autoantibodies in a person indicates they are almost 100% likely to develop T1D in their lifetime. We also know that if we screen more people for these autoantibodies, we can tell them what to look out for and follow them, preventing DKA at diagnosis. Finally, we know that while direct family members of T1D are at an elevated risk, ~85-90% of newly diagnosed cases do not have a direct family connection.

It’s not just about preventing DKA. Universal screening will also accelerate the identification of people at risk and development of therapies that can slow down the progression of T1D and, one day, cure it.

Program Goals

Improve health outcomes by preventing DKA at diagnosis.

Accelerate disease-modifying therapies through the pipeline by increasing the number of people eligible for clinical trials.

Identify people who can benefit from disease-modifying therapies as they become available.

Progress

2020

October 25

JDRF Launches T1Detect

T1Detect, JDRF’s general population screening program, launches. With one blood test, anyone at any age can find out—before symptoms even occur—if they are at risk for developing T1D.

August 25

General Population Screening Reduces Life Threatening Diabetic Ketoacidosis, New Research Shows

JDRF-funded research found that widespread screening for islet autoantibodies reduced the occurrence of life-threatening diabetic ketoacidosis (DKA) among children with pre-symptomatic T1D.

2017

January 25

JDRF and partners identify Risk Factors

JDRF announces a new collaboration with partners to develop and apply machine learning methods to analyze years of global T1D research data and identify factors leading to the onset of T1D in children.

Looking Ahead

In the past decade, JDRF has invested more than $66 million in screening research. One day, T1D will be like polio or measles, and we will only read about it in our vaccination records.

Want to learn more? View JDRF Scientist Frank Martin, Ph.D., and JDRF Vice President of Regulatory and Health Policy, Campbell Hutton, MSPH, below for a presentation on JDRF’s efforts.. You can also view the extended strategy here.

Disease-Modifying Therapies

Powering the research and development of new therapies that can slow, halt, or reverse the course of T1D, curing people across the various stages of the disease.

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Cell Therapies

Investing in research and clinical trials aimed at developing and delivering life-changing therapies that insert healthy, insulin-producing beta cells into people with T1D, with minimal or no immunosuppression, keeping them healthy for longer.

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Improving Lives

People with T1D must have tools, therapies, and interventions to keep them healthy so that when cures come to fruition, they are healthy enough to take advantage of them.

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