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If you are concerned about your family members that do not have a blood relative with type 1 diabetes, it is important to discuss this with their physician. They do not meet the guidelines for this study established by the National Institutes of Health.

Over half of the people diagnosed with type 1 diabetes are over the age 18. This is why we encourage adults under the age of 45 to be tested. Who's Eligible?

Close relatives of an individual with type 1 diabetes are at highest risk for developing type 1 diabetes. Immediate family members ages 1-45. Extended family members ages 1-20. Use our eligibility tool to get a list of eligible family members and to email them. Who's Eligible?

People under the age of 45 are highest at risk. Therefore, we want to spend your tax dollars wisely by focusing our efforts on family members who are 1-45 years old.

Yes. However, you may not have further testing until the baby is born.

Call 1-800-888-4187 to find out if you have been screened through TrialNet.

There are two ways to have family members tested that live outside of our area. First, we can arrange for them to go to one of our TrialNet affiliate sites for testing. Or, if they are willing to give phone consent and fax or mail back the consents and testing forms, then we can mail them a test kit so that they can go to an area lab and Fed Ex the sample back to us. All lab and shipping costs are covered by TrialNet. Where to Get Tested

As children grow, they continue to develop their immunity.  We want to check to see if their autoimmune system gets activated by new environmental triggers so that we can determine their eligibility for prevention research.

Letters should be received within 6 to 8 weeks for those with negative results. Those with positive results will receive a phone call from a TrialNet clinician.

A consent and screening form must be completed. A venipuncture is done from the arm for 1 tube of blood. This is accomplished within 30 minutes for adults. Children may continue to be tested annually until their 18th birthday. The visit for children is often more lengthy because they need preparation and they may choose to use a numbing cream.

Insurance companies are not billed. There is no patient medical record generated.

There is no charge to individuals for the autoantibody test. There is no bill to insurance companies. All of the costs associated with the research tests and medications are paid for by TrialNet.

Yes, TrialNet regularly attends events on the weekends to offer screening to families.

Also, if you have a test kit and need to schedule an appointment on a weekend, we will work with you to find a lab in your community that is open.

Yes. Your child is eligible for annual screening until age 18.

No. Screening can be done at anytime.

If you don't live near a testing site, TrialNet will send a kit that you can take to a local lab for the blood draw. These kits include all the materials for the lab to use. Where to Get Tested

Call 1-800-888-4187 to get set up with a test kit to take to a lab in your area. There is no charge associated with this. Where to Get Tested

No. Lab charges are billed directly to TrialNet.

You may go to a lab of your choice, or the TrialNet staff is happy to help you find a lab close to you and schedule an appointment if needed. All instructions for the lab are included in the test kit.

Please contact the study coordinator who sent you the test kit and TrialNet will send you an updated kit.

A healthy diet and lifestyle is good for everyone. But type 1 diabetes is an autoimmune disease, not caused by overeating or lack of exercise.

Probably not. Most doctors check for the development of diabetes by checking blood sugar levels. Our aim is to prevent type 1 diabetes, therefore we hope to identify those most at risk months or years before their blood sugars are altered.

Symptoms of type 1 diabetes occur after approximately 60-85% of a person's insulin producing cells have been destroyed. TrialNet is looking for early markers of risk that can sometimes be found years before the onset of clinical symptoms. This gives researchers a window of opportunity to test therapies aimed at delaying or preventing the onset of type 1 diabetes. Why Participate?

We suggest you also get tested through TrialNet since it assesses whether the autoimmune response has already started. TEDDY tests for genes related to type 1 diabetes.

No. TrialNet screening only determines autoantibodies and will not determine type 2 diabetes risk or blood type.

Yes, risk for type 1 diabetes varies by ethnicity. However, if you have a family member with type 1 diabetes, your risk is still 15 times greater than if you had no family member with type 1 diabetes. 

The twin's chance of developing type 1 diabetes is at least 30%.

National Institutes of Health, JDRF, and the American Diabetes Association.

The tools to predict those most at risk of developing type 1 diabetes have only recently been developed. Antibodies that precede the development of type 1 diabetes can be detected in a simple blood test which can be drawn at a TrialNet site or shipped from commercial labs across the country. Prevention trials

Yes, we test for diabetes-protective genes IF the person tested is positive for autoantibodies and participates in the monitoring phase of the study.

Screening tests for type 1 diabetes are autoantibody tests specific for the development of type 1. We initially test for mIAA, ICA512, and GAD 65. These are three biochemical autoantibodies commonly found in the newly diagnosed type 1 patients. If any of these three are positive, we also test the same blood sample for ICA, a tissue antigen test that is more involved, and a zinc transporter which was discovered in 2008. Your Results

Type 1 Diabetes TrialNet is an international network of researchers who are exploring ways to prevent, delay, and reverse the progression of type 1 diabetes. What is TrialNet?

An autoimmune disease is where the immune system makes a mistake and attacks the body's own tissues or organs.  One example of an autoimmune disease is type 1 diabetes, in which the immune system destroys the cells in the pancreas that produce insulin.

An autoantibody is a protein that mistakenly attacks the body's own tissues or organs. The autoantibodies we test for are GAD, ICA-512, mIAA, ICA, and ZnT8.

We anticipate that screening will eventually become part of routine clinical care. However, that will require us to have a therapy that delays or prevents diabetes. So we expect to continue this process indefinitely, but we really don't want people to wait. The cure for diabetes will require getting clinical trials done!