title: Insulin autoantibodies: evidence of autoimmune disease among a group of Puerto Rican children with newly diagnosed type 1 diabetes mellitus.
abstract: Type 1 diabetes is a chronic disease caused by a cell-specific destruction of the insulin producing cells of the pancreas. Although Puerto Rico has the highest incidence of type 1 diabetes among Latin American countries, there is scanty data on the presence of antibodies against insulin producing cells. To this end, 20 children (8 males, 12 females), ages 1-15 years, admitted to the University Pediatric Hospital with type 1 diabetes de novo between November 2000 and April 2001 were prospectively studied to determine the presence of serum antibodies against Islet cells (ICA), glutamic acid decarboxylase (GAD-65) and insulin autoantibodies (IAA). IAA was found to be present in 45% of the subjects with 85% of positive rate in subjects under age 5. GAD-65 was present in 66% and ICA was present in 23% of the subjects. We found evidence of autoimmunity against islet cell surface and intracellular components among a cohort of Puerto Rican children with newly diagnosed type 1 diabetes. These findings compared favorably with reports from other ethnicities.
authors.affiliation: Endocrinology Section, Department of Pediatrics, University of Puerto Rico, School of Medicine, San Juan, Puerto Rico. Ligonzalez@Pol.net
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: González de Pijem
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Nieves-Rivera
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D001323:Autoantibodies / Q000097:blood*; D001327:Autoimmune Diseases / Q000097:blood / Q000276:immunology*; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003922:Diabetes Mellitus, Type 1 / Q000097:blood / Q000276:immunology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007328:Insulin / Q000276:immunology*; D008297:Male; D011446:Prospective Studies; D011647:Puerto Rico
chemical_list: D001323:Autoantibodies; D007328:Insulin