The browser you are using is not supported by this website. All versions of Internet Explorer are no longer supported, either by us or Microsoft (read more here: https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-365/windows/end-of-ie-support).

Please use a modern browser to fully experience our website, such as the newest versions of Edge, Chrome, Firefox or Safari etc.

Pediatric Autoimmunity

Annelie Carlsson’s group

Our research

The overall purpose of our research is to improve childhood diabetes care to improve individualised treatment for every child, and to find triggers behind type 1 diabetes in children. 

The more specific aim of our research is to study the heterogeneity of childhood type 1 diabetes. Today we understand that type 1 diabetes affects children with different genetic background and that children with type 1 diabetes have an increased risk of developing comorbidities in other autoimmune diseases, such as celiac disease and thyroid disease, and also developing late complications (such as retinopathy). We want to describe differences in the phenotype, the genetic upset and immunological-pattern in this group of children and link these data to the risk of developing comorbidities and late complications. Our aim is to create a clinical genetic risk score to be used already at the time of diagnosis to plan for an individualised treatment.  

Another major aim of our research is to study environmental factors behind the increased incidence of type 1 diabetes in children. The etiology behind type 1 diabetes is mostly unknown as is why the disease has more than doubled in the childhood population the last decades. This increase must be a cause of changes in the environment. One of our hypotheses is that there are common triggers and etiologies behind type 1 and type 2 diabetes, and will investigate if the epidemic of early childhood obesity may be a trigger for type 1 diabetes in childhood. 

Aims

  • To use our data in the clinical care of children with diabetes, and to integrate our findings of the etiology of type 1 diabetes. 
  • To determine if childhood obesity may be a factor behind the increased incidence of type 1 diabetes, and integrate such findings in the prevention of type 1 diabetes.

Impact

Our research wants to enable the individualised treatment of children with diabetes to decrease the development of comorbidities in other autoimmune diseases and complications. A secondary aim is  to develop intervention studies for children at risk.

Finding the environmental triggers behind the increased incidence of type 1 diabetes will enable us to prevent this incidence.

Research output

Link to a list of research output by the group in Lund University’s research portal

Team members

Link to a list of team members in Lund University’s research portal

Contact

Annelie Carlsson
Principal Investigator
Senior Lecturer and Specialist
+46 (0)76 826 71 70
+46 (0)46 17 82 28
annelie [dot] carlsson [at] med [dot] lu [dot] se

Annelie Carlsson’s profile in Lund University’s research portal
 

Affiliations

EXODIAB: Excellence of Diabetes Research in Sweden

Link to EXODIAB’s page in Lund University’s research portal