October 18, 2023
Precision medicine aimed at diabetes
University of Auckland researchers say genetic testing for a rare form of diabetes could improve treatment options for Māori, Pasifika and other ethnic groups.
Professor Rinki Murphy, who is also a diabetes physician, has been leading research on use of precision medicine in diabetes.
She says monogenic diabetes, which is caused by changes in a single gene, can often be treated with tablets rather than insulin – and finding the gene means other members of a family can also be tested and given precautionary treatment.
She precision medicine is already changing the way cancer is treated.
“That’s been the approach for cancer and there is a similar approach developing for diabetes in that we’ll eventually hope to get a more targeted treatment approach and be able to sub-classify diabetes a bit better so the treatments can be better,” Professor Murphy says.
Half the people identified in the study as having monogenic diabetes could have been more effectively treated by taking six tablets a day instead of an insulin jab.