People living with type 1 diabetes may be able to manage, treat and potentially avoid kidney decline in the future, with the assistance of a simple blood test developed here in WA.
Proteomics International Laboratories (Proteomics International) has developed a test that looks at biomarkers in the blood to accurately predict the onset of chronic kidney disease (CKD) and future kidney decline in patients with type 2 diabetes, up to four years in advance.
It has now been tested in patients with type 1 diabetes for the first time, with promising results.
Proteomics International Managing Director Dr Richard Lipscombe, formerly from UWA, said researchers looked at the effectiveness of the test in more than 90 people with type 1 diabetes from the Fremantle Diabetes Study Phase II.
“Preliminary findings show the test additionally has strong predictive accuracy in predicting CKD and kidney function decline in patients with type 1 diabetes. It is a significant step forward and we are excited about the potential to improve health outcomes for patients with both type 1 and type 2 diabetes,” he said.
“The ability to predict potential kidney decline sooner offers an opportunity for doctors and patients to closely monitor changes, with the aim of preventing the disease from developing or progressing.”
Lead author, endocrinologist at Fremantle Hospital and UWA Professor of Medicine, Dr Tim Davis, noted that the early detection of kidney decline was particularly beneficial for patients with type 1 diabetes due to their unique clinical needs.
“By identifying at-risk individuals, years before traditional methods, we can intervene sooner, potentially preventing significant renal complications and improving overall patient outcomes.”
The findings were presented at last week’s Australasian Diabetes Conference, held in Perth, and have been accepted for publication in the journal of Clinical Diabetes and Endocrinology.
Professor Davis explained that his department at UWA had been collaborating with Proteomics International for past decade developing the new test.
“Our first target population was type two diabetes, which represents about 90% of all diabetes in Australia. Thanks to the size of this population, the test is well validated for type 2 diabetes and is currently being commercialised in other countries,” he said.
“The obvious question was, ‘if it works for predicting future kidney issues in type 2 diabetes, does it work for type 1?’ So, we used our samples and data from the Fremantle diabetes study, which we have been running here for 25 years or more.
“This is really the kind of information you can only get out of a longitudinal study like this.
“We had about 100 people with type 1 diabetes where we had measurements of kidney function over time, long enough for us to see whether a baseline blood test would be useful. And when we did the analysis, it was highly predictive of things going wrong with the kidneys over the next four years.”