IntroductionType 1 diabetes can be diagnosed at an early presymptomatic stage by the detection of islet autoantibodies. The Fr1da study aims to assess whether early staging of type 1 diabetes (1) is feasible at a population-based level, (2) prevents severe metabolic decompensation observed at the clinical manifestation of type 1 diabetes and (3) reduces psychological distress through preventive teaching and care.Methods and analysisChildren aged 2–5 years in Bavaria, Germany, will be tested for the presence of multiple islet autoantibodies. Between February 2015 and December 2016, 100 000 children will be screened by primary care paediatricians. Islet autoantibodies are measured in capillary blood samples using a multiplex three-screen ELISA. Samples with ELISA results >97.5th centile are retested using reference radiobinding assays. A venous blood sample is also obtained to confirm the autoantibody status of children with at least two autoantibodies. Children with confirmed multiple islet autoantibodies are diagnosed with pre-type 1 diabetes. These children and their parents are invited to participate in an education and counselling programme at a local diabetes centre. Depression and anxiety, and burden of early diagnosis are also assessed.ResultsOf the 1027 Bavarian paediatricians, 39.3% are participating in the study. Overall, 26 760 children have been screened between February 2015 and November 2015. Capillary blood collection was sufficient in volume for islet autoantibody detection in 99.46% of the children. The remaining 0.54% had insufficient blood volume collected. Of the 26 760 capillary samples tested, 0.39% were positive for at least two islet autoantibodies.DiscussionStaging for early type 1 diabetes within a public health setting appears to be feasible. The study may set new standards for the early diagnosis of type 1 diabetes and education.Ethics disseminationThe study was approved by the ethics committee of Technische Universität München (Nr. 70/14).

Aims/hypothesis Autoantibodies that precede type 1 diabetes frequently develop in early childhood and target distinct beta cell proteins. The aim of this study was to determine the heterogeneity of islet autoantibody development and fate. Methods The ages of development of insulin autoantibodies (IAA) and GAD autoantibodies (GADA), followed by multiple islet autoantibodies and progression to diabetes were examined in 2,441 children participating in two German birth cohorts. Results In 218 children who developed islet autoantibodies, the first islet autoantibody-positive sample was characterised by single IAA in 80 (37%), multiple islet autoantibodies in 68 (31%) and single GADA in 63 (29%) children. Of the children who were single antibody positive at seroconversion, 35 (44%) IAA-positive and 15 (24%) GADA-positive children developed multiple islet autoantibodies. Single persistent antibodies had heterogeneous affinities; GADA were also heterogeneous in their binding to N-terminally truncated GAD65 and in an ELISA. Progression to diabetes occurred in >50% of children within 10 years in all groups that developed multiple islet autoantibodies and in 44% of children with persistent single high-affinity IAA or persistent single GADA that were positive in both a radiobinding assay and ELISA. The earliest autoantibody development was seen in children with single IAA that progressed to multiple islet autoantibodies or in those with persistent high-affinity single IAA, with a sharp peak in incidence observed at age 9 months. The peak incidence occurred at age 2 years for children who underwent seroconversion directly to multiple islet autoantibodies and at 5 years for children who first seroconverted to GADA and subsequently developed other autoantibodies. Seroconversion to low-affinity IAA or persistent single GADA occurred at a low incidence after the age of 9 months. Conclusions/interpretation Children of different ages have differing susceptibilities to autoimmunisation against specific beta cell autoantigens.

The role of diet in type 1 diabetes development is poorly understood. Metabolites, which reflect dietary response, may help elucidate this role. We explored metabolomics and lipidomics differences between 352 cases of islet autoimmunity (IA) and controls in the TEDDY (The Environmental Determinants of Diabetes in the Young) study. We created dietary patterns reflecting pre-IA metabolite differences between groups and examined their association with IA. Secondary outcomes included IA cases positive for multiple autoantibodies (mAb+). The association of 853 plasma metabolites with outcomes was tested at seroconversion to IA, just prior to seroconversion, and during infancy. Key compounds in enriched metabolite sets were used to create dietary patterns reflecting metabolite composition, which were then tested for association with outcomes in the nested case-control subset and the full TEDDY cohort. Unsaturated phosphatidylcholines, sphingomyelins, phosphatidylethanolamines, glucosylceramides, and phospholipid ethers in infancy were inversely associated with mAb+ risk, while dicarboxylic acids were associated with an increased risk. An infancy dietary pattern representing higher levels of unsaturated phosphatidylcholines and phospholipid ethers, and lower sphingomyelins was protective for mAb+ in the nested case-control study only. Characterization of this high-risk infant metabolomics profile may help shape the future of early diagnosis or prevention efforts.

No abstract

A 3 Screen ELISA was developed that was suitable for first step screening of multiple beta cell autoantibodies in capillary blood.

Background High gluten intake is associated with increased risk of celiac disease (CD) in children at genetic risk. Objectives To investigate if different dietary gluten sources up to age two years confer different risks of celiac disease autoimmunity (CDA) and CD in children at genetic risk. Design Three-day food records were collected at age six, nine, 12, 18 and 24 months from 2088 Swedish genetically at-risk children participating in a 15-year follow-up cohort study on type 1 diabetes and celiac disease. Screening for celiac disease was performed with tissue transglutaminase autoantibodies (tTGA). The primary outcome was CDA, defined as persistent tTGA positivity. The secondary outcome was CD, defined as having a biopsy showing Marsh score ≥ 2 or an averaged tTGA level ≥ 100 Units. Cox regression adjusted for total gluten intake estimated hazard ratios (HR) with 95% confidence intervals (CI) for daily intake of gluten sources. Results During follow-up, 487 (23.3%) children developed CDA, and 242 (11.6%) developed CD. Daily intake of ≤158 g porridge at age nine months was associated with increased risk of CDA (HR 1.53, 95% CI 1.05, 2.23, P = 0.026). A high daily bread intake (>18.3 g) at age 12 months was associated with increased risk of both CDA (HR 1.47, 95% CI 1.05, 2.05, P = 0.023) and CD (HR 1.79, 95% CI 1.10, 2.91, P = 0.019). At age 18 months, milk cereal drink was associated with an increased risk of CD (HR 1.16, 95% CI 1.00, 1.33, P = 0.047) per 200 g/day increased intake. No association was found for other gluten sources up to age 24 months and risk of CDA or CD. Conclusions A high daily intake of bread at age 12 months and milk cereal drink during the second year in life is associated with increased risk of both celiac disease autoimmunity and celiac disease in genetically at-risk children.

There was a constant age-dependent rise of insulin resistance during childhood without observed associations to the onset of puberty or the presence of islet autoimmunity in children at increased risk for T1D. Our data show that insulin resistance emerges well before the initiation of physical changes of puberty.

No abstract