More than 29 million Americans (9.3 percent of the U.S. population) have diabetes. Personalized medicine approaches have just begun to make “genomic-based” inroads into this common yet complex disease. At NorthShore, investigators in the Department of Endocrinology are investigating the many facets of diabetes—from diagnosis to treatment—through the Diabetes Research Program.
Currently, NorthShore offers two personalized medicine clinical trials focused on the genetic underpinnings of diabetes:
The FIND MODY study aims to identify individuals with a rare form of diabetes known as Maturity-Onset Diabetes of the Young (MODY). Different from Type 1 and Type 2 diabetes, MODY often runs in families and is caused by a mutation in a single gene. The goal is to implement gene-directed pharmacotherapies as well as identify new causal mutations and medical therapies.
Collaborating with Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston, NorthShore is participating in the PHARMGen study. This NorthShore Auxiliary Scholars-funded trial looks at how genetic variants in patients with Type 2 diabetes influence their response to anti-diabetes medication. Research findings could help physicians better tailor drug treatment.