Increased levels of bovine serum albumin antibodies in patients with type 1 diabetes and celiac disease-related antibodies.
OBJECTIVE
To detect the presence of antibodies against bovine serum albumin in a cohort of Spanish patients with type 1 insulin-dependent diabetes.


METHODS
Antibodies were measured using an in-house enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay test in 80 patients with type 1 diabetes, subdivided according to the presence or absence in their serum of celiac disease-related antibodies. For comparison, 30 patients with celiac disease (nondiabetic), 13 patients with autoimmune thyroiditis, and 45 healthy volunteers were used.


RESULTS
Thirty-one percent of patients with diabetes yielded a positive result, with a mean value of 26.1 +/- 21.8 arbitrary units (AU). If the group was split into those with celiac disease-related antibodies and those lacking them, the percentages were 53% and 25%, respectively, with a mean value of 39.6 +/- 28.4 AU and 22.4 +/- 18.3 AU (P = 0.003), respectively. Seventy-three percent of celiac patients showed bovine serum albumin antibodies with a mean level of 38.8 +/- 27.7 AU, comparable to that of patients with diabetes with celiac antibodies, but higher than the group lacking them (P = 0.001). Although 46% of patients with autoimmune thyroiditis had positive results, the level detected (22.1 +/- 8.7 AU) was significantly lower than that recorded in patients with type 1 diabetes who had celiac disease antibodies (P = 0.04) and celiac patients (P = 0.04). Healthy volunteers showed no antibodies against bovine serum albumin.


CONCLUSIONS
These data suggest that bovine serum albumin antibodies appears in patients with a compromised epithelial permeability, and they reflect a general defect in the process of immunologic tolerance associated with a predisposition to autoimmunity, rather than immunity specific to beta cells.
Rodríguez-Juan
Cristina
C
Inmunología, Facultad de Medicina, Universidad Complutense de Madrid, Madrid, Spain.
Sala-Silveira
Lucía
L
Pérez-Blas
Mercedes
M
Valeri
Anna P
AP
Aguilera
Noemí
N
López-Santalla
Mercedes
M
Fuertes
Ana
A
Martín-Villa
José M
JM
D000293:Adolescent; D001323:Autoantibodies / Q000032:analysis*; D001327:Autoimmune Diseases / Q000276:immunology / Q000378:metabolism; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D002446:Celiac Disease / Q000276:immunology* / Q000378:metabolism; D015331:Cohort Studies; D003922:Diabetes Mellitus, Type 1 / Q000276:immunology* / Q000378:metabolism; D004797:Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007111:Immunity, Cellular; D008297:Male; D012710:Serum Albumin, Bovine / Q000276:immunology*; D013967:Thyroiditis, Autoimmune / Q000276:immunology / Q000378:metabolism
D001323:Autoantibodies; D012710:Serum Albumin, Bovine