Two Diagnosis'

[DKK]

Hi All,

I've been managing my child's diabetes (6 years old) for just over two years now, yesterday my 10 year old was also diagnosed as Type1.

I know diabetes is not hereditary - each child has a different mother and none of us have diabetes or a family history of diabetes. Does anybody else have a similar situation, I'd like to have some sort of test on my DNA/Genetics.

Thanks!

 

[rebrascora]

I believe that it may be more a genetic predisposition to autoimmune conditions rather than specifically Type 1 diabetes.... but I could be wrong. Neither of my parents had diabetes but my mother developed Rheumatoid Arthritis which is autoimmune and my sister developed PMR (also autoimmune condition) within a year of me developing Type 1.... which is obviously autoimmune. Interestingly all 3 of us developed these conditions during menopause, so I suspect the trigger may have been a change in hormones. With children I wonder if the trigger may also be hormonal.... growth hormones in their case. Just my non medical thoughts....

 

[harbottle]

Yes, T1 in children can be linked to genetics:

Genetics of Type 1 Diabetes

Type 1 diabetes, a multifactorial disease with a strong genetic component, is caused by the autoimmune destruction of pancreatic β cells. The major susceptibility locus maps to the HLA class II genes at 6p21, although more than 40 non-HLA susceptibility ...

www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

 

[Jasmin2000]

There are gene mutations that predispose to Type 1 and in the right (or wrong?) circumstances they cause the disease. Mostly, those circumstances are environmental, lifestyle and/or other predisposing genes, especially those that cause autoimmune attack as @rebrascora indicated.

If your kids both inherit a predisposing gene there will be some likelihood of getting type 1. If the other parent also had a predisposing gene then they are more likely to have type 1, but two genes are not a given for development of type 1.
I would hold back on the gene tests as there are thousands of potential predisposing genes and they are mostly not well characterised.

 

[Lucyr]

I don’t know if this study is still recruiting or not but you could check

T1DRA

t1dra.bristol.ac.uk

 

[Sally71]

Definitely in my family, my mum is type 1 and so is my daughter, not me or my brother though and so far not my brother’s children (fingers crossed). Mum always used to say that you inherit a predisposition to it but need some sort of external event to trigger it, in her case she thinks it was the shock of my dad having a motorbike accident which nearly killed him, in my daughter’s case pretty certain it was a virus (which is quite a common trigger I believe). It sounds like that theory still holds true today

 

[Daisynova]

I feel your pain - I’m t1d and my 13yo has just been diagnosed and it has devastated me. It feels so unfair and I’m constantly told it isn’t down to genes but I can’t help but feel there is something there. I was the only one in my family with t1d and the only one in my school of 1500 kids. Yet in my daughters school has 10 t1d kids (all girls) so there is definitely an environmental factor too. I just don’t know where to turn for research into this.

 

[Thebearcametoo]

We had no T1 in either side of the family until our kid was diagnosed. We took part in the BOX study (linked to the Bristol study I think but based out of Oxford). They test for autoantibodies which if present can signal an increased likelihood of being T1. None of us had the autoantibodies at the time but it doesn’t preclude them from happening at a later date. As far as I know there no one genetic test for T1 but it’s thought that there is a genetic link for some people in producing these autoantibodies, which is why you can get clusters of T1 in some families. However a lot of people have no family connection. Even if you have the autoantibodies it doesn’t mean you will get T1 just that it’s more likely. There are lots of research studies going on so do ask your team about participation.

 

[PhoebeC]

I feel your pain - I’m t1d and my 13yo has just been diagnosed and it has devastated me. It feels so unfair and I’m constantly told it isn’t down to genes but I can’t help but feel there is something there. I was the only one in my family with t1d and the only one in my school of 1500 kids. Yet in my daughters school has 10 t1d kids (all girls) so there is definitely an environmental factor too. I just don’t know where to turn for research into this.

It is one of my worries about my daughter. She wouldn’t get the test when it was open but I will ask my team as it is on my mind sometimes.
There was one other boy at my school but I didn’t know him and I was in college when I was diagnosed. And nobody in my family but me.