Genetic Testing Shines Light on Diabetes-Related Complications

As a new era of personalized medicine continues to provide clues between genetic makeups and predispositions to certain disease states, researchers and providers are able to come up with more targeted therapies for patient populations. Here are some recent studies that have been released at the ADA 72nd Scientific Sessions that are helping to provide insights into the correlation between diabetes and other disease states.

A Genome-Wide Association Analysis of Coronary Calcification in the Diabetes Heart Study - Cox et al.

Genetic risk factors for cardiovascular disease in patients with type 2 diabetes may reveal biological pathways that can help explain the increased risk of macrovascular complications in type 2 diabetes. Cox et al examined the association signals for sub-clinical cardiovascular disease in analyses restricted to patients with type 2 diabetes by performing a genome-wide association study (GWAS) for coronary artery calcified plaque in the family-based Diabetes Heart Study. The findings of this analysis suggest there is potential for novel GWAS signals for coronary calcification in type 2 diabetes. The research team concluded that a meta-analysis of vascular calcification signals in type 2 diabetes cohorts “should further elucidate these relationships and identify variants contributing to risk for vascular calcification” in type 2 diabetes patients.

Development of Risk Prediction Models for Chronic Kidney Disease in Type 2 Diabetes Using Genetic and Clinical Variables - Jiang et al.

As Vupputuri et al documented in their “Chronic-Kidney Disease Progression and Associated Medical Costs in Type 2 Diabetes” study, chronic kidney disease (CKD) is not only a common complication associated with type 2 diabetes, but it is also a costly one. In this study, Jiang et al aimed to examine the prevalence of stage 5 CKD and use of renal replacement therapy (RRT) in the Scottish population with diabetes to determine “the primary renal diagnosis (PRD) among those on RRT and to test whether survival following RRT varies by PRD." The research team performed this analysis by linking records from the national database of all those registered with diabetes in 2006-2008 to the Scottish Renal Registry, which captures all RRT recipients in Scotland. Jiang et al concluded that “mortality rates after starting RRT were not significantly different in diabetic versus non-diabetic kidney disease among those with type 2 diabetes in this study.”

To read more about this study, please visit the American Diabetes Association’s website.