Antibodies produced against the commonly used antibiotic, gentamicin, appear to increase the risk of type 1 diabetes in children already genetically at risk, scientists say.

When Medical College of Georgia scientists compared the blood of nearly 300 individuals with type 1 diabetes to healthy controls, they found that a higher level of antibodies against gentamicin was associated with increased risk of progression to type 1 diabetes. G418 and sisomicin, analogs of gentamicin, also showed a similar association.

Their study analyzed samples from the Diabetes Autoimmunity Study in the Young (DAISY) and Phenome and Genome of Diabetic Autoantibody (PAGODA). The databases studied did not state whether study participants had been given gentamicin. However, anywhere between 5-10% of newborns receive the broad-spectrum antibiotic to treat potentially lethal sepsis.

They report in the journal Nature Communications that a similar percentage, 5.3% of the participants, had high levels of these antibodies and a high percentage of this group later developed type 1 diabetes, says Sharad Purohit, PhD, a biochemist in the MCG Center for Biotechnology and Genomic Medicine.

To compound the scenario, it’s known that premature babies are considered at higher risk for both sepsis and type 1 diabetes. The current standard of care for newborns with sepsis is giving gentamicin, per World Health Organization guidelines.

“These infections are common, and the babies need the antibiotic,” says corresponding author Purohit, noting that their own immune systems are not well developed at that juncture, and the drug may be a lifesaving therapy.

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