Development and progression of diabetic retinopathy in patients with Type 1 diabetes who are positive for GAD autoantibody.
OBJECTIVE
To investigate the relationship between autoantibodies to glutamic acid decarboxylase (GAD) and proliferative diabetic retinopathy (PDR) to assess the role of autoimmunity in retinopathy.


METHODS
Patients with Type 1 diabetes for more than 10 years who had been diagnosed under age 30 (13-28 years) were studied. They were classified into three groups. The PDR group consisted of 22 patients, the pre-PDR group was 26 patients, while the non-DR group was 32 patients who had Type 1 diabetes without retinopathy. Blood was collected to measure autoantibodies to GAD, and the relationship between PDR and GAD positivity was investigated in a cross-sectional study.


RESULTS
The highest positivity rate of GAD autoantibodies was 50.0% in the non-DR group, followed by the pre-PDR group (30.8%) and the PDR group (18.2%).


CONCLUSIONS
Production or existence of GAD autoantibodies may contribute to the prevention of retinopathy.
Mimura
T
T
Department of Ophthalmology, University of Tokyo Graduate School of Medicine, Tokyo, Japan. mimura@mbg.sphere.ne.jp
Funatsu
H
H
Uchigata
Y
Y
Kitano
S
S
Shimizu
E
E
Noma
H
H
Amano
S
S
Araie
M
M
Iwamoto
Y
Y
Hori
S
S
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001323:Autoantibodies / Q000097:blood*; D003922:Diabetes Mellitus, Type 1 / Q000097:blood / Q000150:complications / Q000276:immunology*; D003930:Diabetic Retinopathy / Q000097:blood / Q000150:complications / Q000276:immunology*; D018450:Disease Progression; D005260:Female; D005968:Glutamate Decarboxylase / Q000276:immunology*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male
D001323:Autoantibodies; D005968:Glutamate Decarboxylase