Contact: Will Sansom
Phone: (210) 567-2579
E-mail: sansom@uthscsa.edu

HALE
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The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio has been selected for major affiliate status in TrialNet, a clinical trials network supported by the National Institutes of Health and every major diabetes organization in the country. The focus of TrialNet is Type 1 diabetes, the pancreas-destroying autoimmune form of diabetes.

“Affiliate status will enable the Health Science Center to provide access to this first-of-its-kind national study for families in South Texas who are at high risk for Type 1 diabetes,” said Daniel Hale, M.D., professor of pediatrics and chief of the division of pediatric endocrinology and diabetes at the Health Science Center. “We are the only major affiliate of TrialNet in South Texas.”

Health Science Center researchers will work with TrialNet colleagues to assess the scope of Type 1 diabetes, how the disease differs by ethnicity, the length of time from autoimmune involvement until onset of symptoms, and possible ways to intervene.

“The Health Science Center’s new involvement in TrialNet is a great opportunity for family members of individuals with Type 1 diabetes to get personally and directly involved in research to prevent or treat the disease,” Dr. Hale said.

Study participants will be seen either at the Texas Diabetes Institute of the University Health System or at CHRISTUS Santa Rosa Children’s Hospital, but with advance notice, the researchers will set up at family reunions, diabetes walks and other gatherings to collect information.

“Now is the time for relatives of individuals with Type 1 diabetes to get involved,” Dr. Hale added. “We want San Antonio and South Texas to be on the front lines of Type 1 diabetes research, just as we already are for Type 2 diabetes research.”

Even if affected individuals or families do not live in San Antonio or South Texas, the team wants to make contact with them. “We want parents, cousins, uncles, aunts. If a grandparent has Type 1, we want to enroll the grandchildren,” Dr. Hale said.

To inquire about study eligibility, call Robin Tragus, R.N., at (210) 358-7586 or send an e-mail to DiabetesTrialNet@uthscsa.edu.

Type 1 diabetes is usually diagnosed in childhood or young adulthood. Eighty percent of those affected are diagnosed by age 19, and the other 20 percent are diagnosed as young adults. In Type 1 diabetes, the aberrant autoimmune process destroys the pancreas’ ability to make insulin. This differs from Type 2 diabetes, in which the pancreas loses its ability to control blood sugar as the body becomes more resistant to insulin.

The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio is the leading research institution in South Texas and one of the major health sciences universities in the world. With an operating budget of $529 million, the Health Science Center is the chief catalyst for the $14 billion biosciences and health care industry, the leading sector in San Antonio’s economy. The Health Science Center has had an estimated $34 billion impact on the region since inception and has expanded to six campuses in San Antonio, Laredo, Harlingen and Edinburg. More than 22,000 graduates (physicians, dentists, nurses, scientists and allied health professionals) serve in their fields, including many in Texas. Health Science Center faculty are international leaders in cancer, cardiovascular disease, diabetes, aging, stroke prevention, kidney disease, orthopaedics, research imaging, transplant surgery, psychiatry and clinical neurosciences, pain management, genetics, nursing, allied health, dentistry and many other fields. For more information, click on www.uthscsa.edu.