Successful incorporation of a genetic risk prediction research platform into routine newborn screening

Abstract

An increasing number of diseases can be offered treatments that are transformative if administered in a timely manner. However, many of these diseases are currently not included in the newborn screening programs because they lack sensitive and specific metabolic biomarkers and their detection relies on genetic methods. Type 1 diabetes (T1D) constitutes a potential example of such disease.Between April 2018 and November 2020, over 15500 babies were enrolled into ‘INGR1D’ (Investigating Genetic Risk for T1D), a research study to identify newborns with an increased genetic risk of T1D. This project, performed as part of a T1D primary prevention study (the Primary Oral Insulin Trial, POInT), has helped to pioneer the integration of genetic screening into the NHS Newborn Blood Spot Screening Programme (NBSSP) for consenting mothers, without affecting the screening pathway. The use of prospective consent to perform personalised genetic testing on samples obtained through the routine NBSSP represents a novel mechanism for clinical genetic research in the UK and provides a model for further population based genetic studies in the newborn.This project builds on the UK’s role as a world leader in genomic medicine, e.g. through its inception and completion of the 100 000 Genomes Project, and its subsequent ambition to map 5 million further genomes over the next 5 years.Our aim is therefore to describe the methodology used by INGR1D as a way to demonstrate how a successful research and clinical trial tool can be integrated into a national screening programme, with the potential for the tool to be developed to incorporate multiple diseases with genetic markers without altering the screening pathway.