The goal of understanding the genetics of diabetes is to help identify individuals at high risk so that preventive strategies can be initiated, such as exercise and diet or possibly antibody therapies. Scientists can also use genetic information to produce drugs targeted at the specific proteins manufactured by aberrant genes. Helping those at high risk for type 2 diabetes may also include targeting the genetic causes of obesity.

Researchers have identified regions of genes that influence the immune system, which is related to type 1 diabetes. This information, combined with the ability to detect the autoimmune process that leads to type 1 diabetes in advance of clinical symptoms, has led to the development of several clinical trials that propose to study the influence of environmental factors on the development of diabetes. Through these studies it is hoped that scientists will find ways to prevent some of these factors.

Projects include:

• SEARCH for Diabetes in Youth, involving more than 5 million young Americans, whose goals include noting the causes and characteristics of the various forms of diabetes
  
  
• The National Children’s Study, which is to follow at least 100,000 American children from birth through adulthood in an effort to find the causes of diseases ranging from diabetes to autism
  
  
• The Environmental Determinants of Diabetes in the Young (TEDDY), testing more than 200,000 babies for several genes known to increase the risk of type 1 diabetes, is expected to identify 13,000 high-risk babies, half of whom will be followed for 15 years in an effort to determine which environmental factors also contribute to type 1 diabetes
  
  
• Prospective Assessment in Newborns for Diabetes Autoimmunity (PANDA), using a blood sample to identify infants at high genetic risk of type 1 diabetes and following them for five years
  
  
• Diabetes Autoimmunity Study in the Young (DAISY) at the University of Colorado School of Medicine, which is investigating genetic predisposition to type 1 diabetes
  
  
• Trial to Reduce Insulin-Dependent Diabetes in the Genetically at Risk (TRIGR), which is looking at environmental triggers of food proteins and the affect on diabetes
  
  
• Genetics of Kidneys in Diabetes (GoKinD), which is examining the genetic bases of diabetic nephropathy

Research also continues in developing genetic tests that may help patients understand their risk of developing diabetes and other inherited diseases.