A Novel Systems Biology Approach to Identify Subtle Disease Including Prediabetes Mellitus

Reference #:

MMV-06-137

Inventors/Contributors

Johannes D. Veldhuis, M.D.

Description

A method has been developed for assessing an inter-dependent biological system wherein said methods comprise determining by using a systems biology approach whether a set comprising at least three variables is within a diagnostic coordinate range (normal) or outside a diagnostic range (abnormal). As an example, methods were developed to detect and quantify the earliest stages of regulatory failure in nondiabetic individuals who may be at increased genetic or environmental risk for type II diabetes mellitus (DM) by analytically reconstructing pathways that mediate time-varying regulation of a minimal triad of interlinked signals, viz., glucose, insulin and glucagon. These methods can allow for the quantification of ensemble dynamics, rather than the behavior of any one signal, by estimating endogenous dose-response pathways noninvasively without using radiolabeled or otherwise marked molecules in awake, unmedicated, healthy individuals, given only sparse and noisy measurements of the three signals.

Patent Status

Pending