Diabetes Care: Risk Factors, Prediction, Prevention, and Individualized Treatment

Predictive medicine is a new philosophy in healthcare and an attractive subject for currently initiated research activities aimed at a potential application of innovative biotechnologies in the prediction of human pathologies, a development of well-timed prevention and individual therapy-planning. Diabetes care is one of the best examples of an absolute necessity for well-timed prediction, prevention and personalized treatment. Diabetes mellitus frequently results in diverse severe complications, such as retinopathy, nephropathy, silent ischemia, dementia, and cancer - the cascade of chronic complications appearing as “domino-effect”. Promising approaches of differential plasma proteome, detection of circulating nucleic acids and gene expression profiling in circulating leukocytes are currently discussed for development of potent diagnostic, prognostic and therapeutic targets. Minimal invasive insulin administration approaches and/or improvement of pancreatic activity in own insulin production is the main goal of novel drug delivery systems highly desirable for advanced treatment of diabetic patients with both type 1 and type 2 of the disease. High potential of an application of novel gene therapy approaches in diabetes care is expected for such advanced technologies as gene repair by gene replacement therapies.