Researchers say they have developed a more effective and less costly way to determine an individual’s risk of developing Type 1 diabetes, according to a recent article published by The Medical News.
The process involves a complex algorithm that is applied to a large set of gene markers. Researchers from the Center for Applied Genomics at The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia say that most of the genes that contribute to other diseases remain undiscovered. And, studies that only look at part of the picture yield incomplete results.
The new research makes use of a broader group of gene markers – some of which are not yet confirmed – and therefore may embrace some false positives. However, researchers argue, the statistical results are robust. Specifically, the algorithm looks at how specific genes interact through an automated tool that looks at the whole human genome. After looking at data, the researchers generated a model that was very accurate in separating Type 1 diabetes cases. They verified the results in two independent datasets.
However, the researchers caution that the model may not work on a massive scale and may be most useful in screening siblings of those who have the disease because they are already thought to have an elevated risk.
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