Dr. Evan Los breath study

JOHNSON CITY (May 11, 2018) – People with type 1 diabetes test for hypoglycemia (low blood sugar) using a continuous glucose monitor or finger prick. A pilot study being conducted at East Tennessee State University looks to provide more information about another sign of hypoglycemia – chemical changes in breath.

Dr. Evan Los, an assistant professor in East Tennessee State University Quillen College of Medicine’s Department of Pediatrics and practicing physician with Ballad Health, was awarded a $10,000 grant by ETSU’s Research Development Committee to take a closer look at a biochemical signature of hypoglycemia that can be detected in a person’s breath.

This pilot study follows Los’ previous research involving the ability of service dogs to detect and alert their owners when their blood sugar is low. He found mixed results.

“It looked like there might be something to this, but we can’t really tell people they should be solely relying on a dog to know if their blood sugar is low,” he said.

Now, Los is looking at an array of chemical compounds, including isoprene, which has been shown to increase during hypoglycemia.

“Last year a group of researchers showed that the level of isoprene goes up 400 percent during low blood sugar,” Los said.

He is recruiting people of various ages with type 1 diabetes to provide a breath sample when they experience low blood sugar and again when their blood sugar level returns to normal. The air-tight breath collection bags will be sent to a lab and Los will analyze the difference between the samples. Dr. Bill Stone, professor and director of Pediatric Research at ETSU will coordinate the lab analysis portion of the study.

            Los says this research may reveal more information about human physiology during hypoglycemia, provide insight into how diabetes alert dogs may be working, and could be used to develop a noninvasive device to measure glucose levels.

“This research has implications down the road,” he said. “Sometimes, children may not be able to tell the difference between being nervous and having low blood sugar, and it’s the same for people who have had diabetes for a while and older patients. They can’t feel it as much. That’s why it would be beneficial to have a non-invasive way to detect blood sugar.”

This pilot study is the first clinical research project for ETSU Pediatric Endocrinology and was made possible by funding from the RDC, which is coordinated by the ETSU Office of Research and Sponsored Programs Administration and is responsible for awarding intramural research dollars to faculty each year.

“This department is growing, pediatric subspecialties are growing, and you’ve got to start somewhere,” Los said. “This research may generate more questions than answers, but if this goes well and we find something interesting, we’ll follow up. A possible next step would be to see whether the breath compounds we identify are what the service dogs pick up on when they alert their owners.”

For more information about the study or to express interest in participating, call 423-431-4946 and leave a message with name and contact number.