Insulin autoantibodies in the pre-diabetic period: Correlation with islet cell antibodies and development of diabetes

✍ Scribed by B. M. Dean; F. Becker; J. M. McNally; A. C. Tarn; G. Schwartz; E. A. M. Gale; G. F. Bottazzo

• Publisher: Springer
• Year: 1986
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 448 KB
• Volume: 29
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0012-186X
• DOI: 10.1007/bf00452073

✦ Synopsis

IgG and IgM class insulin autoantibodies were measured by an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay in sera from members of the Barts-Windsor-Middlesex prospective family study for Type I (insulin-dependent) diabetes. One hundred and twelve individuals from 28 families were selected for study on the basis of a clearly defined islet cell antibody status. IgG insulin autoantibodies were found to be significantly associated with islet cell antibody positive (n= 30) versus islet cell antibody negative (n= 57) first degree family relatives (p=0.002), with increased significance (p=0.0003) if complement-fixing (CF)-islet cell antibody individuals (n= 20) only were considered. In addition, a significant association of IgG insulin autoantibodies with subsequent develop-ment of diabetes was observed within the CF-islet cell antibody positive group (p< 0.0003). No such associations were found for IgM insulin autoantibodies, but a higher prevalence of these autoantibodies was observed in islet cell antibody negative first degree relatives (n = 57) compared with a control group of 73 Blood Bank donors (p= 0.00007), and they were significantly associated with siblings (n---48) rather than parents (n = 39), (p = 0.001). We conclude that the presence of IgG insulin autoantibodies and CF-islet cell antibodies confer more risk for future development of diabetes than the presence of either marker alone.