TrialNet, a new government-funded research program dedicated to the discovery of new therapies for the prevention of type 1 diabetes, has selected UCSF as one of its centers. Dr. Stephen Gitelman is the study director at UCSF, and co-investigators Stephen Rosenthal and Jeffrey Bluestone will be active participants in the TrialNet effort.

TrialNet, funded by the National Institute of Diabetes, Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK), National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), and the National Institute for Child Health and Human Development is a consortium of investigators, clinical centers and core support facilities from several institutions around the country. Selection of the clinical centers participating in TrialNet came following a lengthy review of applicants, and final selection was announced in February this year.

Dr. Stephen Gitelman, Director of the Pediatric Diabetes Program, says that being awarded a TrialNet site is yet another feather in the cap of the Diabetes Center. "UCSF now hosts a TrialNet Center, a JDRF Islet Transplant Center and is home to the Immune Tolerance Network. It shows the strength of the research and clinical communities here and puts us in a very strong position to offer the absolute latest in clinical developments to all our patients through our clinical research programs." He adds that, "We all look forward to the day when we have cured diabetes. TrialNet will help us define the ultimate cure-prevention."

The mission of TrialNet is to prevent type 1 diabetes in high risk individuals, and to preserve pancreatic beta cell function in patients with new onset type 1 diabetes . TrialNet will identify those at risk for diabetes through on-going nationwide screening of first or second degree relatives of someone with type 1 diabetes. This includes a continuation of the oral insulin trial started as part of Diabetes Prevention Trial-Type 1 (DPT-1), and this study will close to enrollment on October 31. TrialNet plans to initiate multiple new clinical trials simultaneously in the near future. Family screening is now readily available here at UCSF, and information about the new studies will be available soon. For further information, contact Dr. Gitelman or David Ng, the study coordinator, at 514-3730.