New research to be presented at this year's Annual Meeting of the European Association for the Study of Diabetes (EASD) (Madrid, 9-13 September) shows that a child is almost twice as likely to develop type 1 diabetes (T1D) if their father has the condition than if their mother has the condition. The study, the largest of its kind, suggests that exposure to T1D in the womb confers long-term protection against the condition in children with affected mothers relative to those with affected fathers. Understanding what is responsible for this relative protection could lead to opportunities to develop new treatments to prevent type 1 diabetes.
Individuals with a family history of type 1 diabetes are 8-15 times more likely to develop the autoimmune condition – however, studies have shown the risk is higher if the affected relative is the father rather than the mother. We wanted to understand this more. Dr.
Lowri Allen, Lead Researcher, Diabetes Research Group, Cardiff University He added, "Previous studies have suggested that maternal type 1 diabetes is associated with relative protection against type 1 diabetes in offspring during early life. We wanted to know if this relative maternal protection from type 1 diabetes is confined just to childhood. We were also interested in what might be responsible for the effect.
" To find out more, Dr Allen, Professor Richard Oram, of the Department of Clinical and Biomedical Sciences, University of Exeter Medical School, Exeter, UK, and collea.