There are possible genetic components to type 1 diabetes, and we don't know what they are. There are possible environmental components, too; questions about where type 1 diabetes comes from. We need answers. Maybe you can help?
The University of Minnesota is conducting a study of identical twins and diabetes. They are looking for 20 pairs of identical twins, at least ten years of age, in which one twin has type 1 and the other does not. If you fit this profile, you could help the researchers separate out the genetic (identical twins have the same genetic material) from the environmental (we never have exactly the same exposures and experiences). What is the difference between the one twin who develops the condition, and the other, who does not?
Why does this matter? We cannot truly cure a medical condition until we know what causes it -- and we don't know what causes, what launches, type 1 diabetes. The Twins Study might reveal that the genetic material between affected and un-affected twins is identical -- in which case the cause of type 1 would have to be environmental. It could, on the other hand, show us a mutation, some sort of unexpected and unpredictable genetic modification -- one that we've missed up to now. Either way, the study will bring us closer to a cure for type 1 diabetes.
If you want to be part of the Twins Study, and are a twin with type 1 diabetes,
whose twin is diabetes-free (or vice versa), contact the researchers by telephone:
1-800-688-5252, extension 44688, local telephone: (612) 624-4688, or by e-mail:
[email protected] You could be the one who makes the difference.