New chapter in diabetes research: Dresden involved in European research project

It is a pioneering collaboration that represents a paradigm shift in research into type 1 diabetes: 28 partners from twelve European countries are pooling their expertise from research and industry in the EDENT1FI project. The major goal: to stop the disease at the preclinical stage. Researchers from Dresden are also contributing their expertise. 

Type 1 diabetes often occurs in children and adolescents. The disease is considered incurable and has a lasting impact on quality of life. Around 9 million people are affected worldwide, including 300,000 children in Europe. A sad development in the recent past: the number of new cases in children and adolescents is increasing worldwide. The rise in incidence during the COVID-19 pandemic was particularly striking.

Until now, research has mainly focused on family history. However, statistics show that 90 percent of newly diagnosed patients have no relatives with type 1 diabetes. Many researchers are therefore calling for a paradigm shift in the treatment and early detection of type 1 diabetes. There are already initiatives in Germany, including in Dresden, but so far there has been a lack of international cooperation. 

EDENT1FI - short for "European action for the Diagnosis of Early Non-clinical Type 1 diabetes For disease Interception" - is now closing this gap. In the research project, partners from science and industry are working together to stop type 1 diabetes at the preclinical stage, i.e. before symptoms appear. The Center for Regenerative Therapies Dresden (CRTD) at TU Dresden is also involved in the project in cooperation with the Clinic and Polyclinic for Paediatrics and Adolescent Medicine at the Carl Gustav Carus University Hospital Dresden.

As part of EDENT1FI, 200,000 children across Europe will be examined. Through this, the researchers want to gain a comprehensive overview of how early detection needs to be developed that takes into account psychosocial, medical and economic influences, includes different healthcare systems and populations and focuses in particular on disadvantaged families. In addition, the T1D biomarkers are to be further optimized in order to better assess the risk and stage of a disease. This opens up new possibilities for individualized therapeutic approaches. Biomarkers are biological characteristics that indicate a disease state.

The project is being funded by the Horizon Europe program as an Innovative Health Initiative (IHI-JU) with around 23 million euros and will run for five years.

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