Diagnostic Biomarkers to Predict Individual Propensity to Diabetic Complications

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The diabetes epidemic, and the devastating complications that accompany it, have created an unprecedented worldwide medical crisis. It is primarily the complications of diabetes, including kidney failure, blindness, cardiovascular disease and neuropathy that accounts for the 245 billion spent in 2012 in the US. A significant problem for doctors who treat diabetic patients is the 5-15 year silent phase after onset of the disease, when approximately 1/3 of the diabeticpopulation progresses rapidly toward complications but with no overt clinical symptoms. Until now, physicians have been unable to predict which patients are most likely to develop these complications, and hence are unable to tailor medical treatment to their specific individual needs. By the time symptoms are apparent, it is often too late to change the outcome, even with more aggressive treatment. Patients who are unaware of their risks are often complacent and unresponsive when knowledge of this risk