Islet cell antibodies in the Japanese population and subjects with Type 1 (insulin-dependent) diabetes

Abstract

Islet cell antibodies were studied in 1,112 non-diabetic adults, 473 normal school children and 162 Type 1 (insulin-dependent) diabetic patients in a Japanese population. The prevalence of islet cell antibodies was 0.5%, 0.4% and 32%, respectively. Most islet cell antibodies positive subjects with Type 1 diabetes had short duration of the disease. No patients who had over 10 years from the onset had islet cell antibodies. Six non-diabetic adults with islet cell antibodies were followed for 4 years. Only one with Hashimoto's thyroiditis showed a diabetic pattern in her oral glucose tolerance test. However, none developed overt insulin-dependent diabetes until 1984. Two out of these six subjects continued to be positive for both islet cell antibodies and antithyroid antibodies or antinuclear antibodies. Islet cell antibodies in the remaining four patients disappeared during the second year. It is difficult to predict the onset of Type 1 diabetes by islet cell antibodies in non-diabetic individuals because they may be transient.

Serial Changes in the Prevalence of Islet Cell Antibodies and Islet Cell Antibody Titer in Children With IDDM of Abrupt or Slow Onset

“…The incidence of ICAs at the time of diagnosis has been reported to be as high as 60-80%. Thereafter, the prevalence of ICAs gradually decreases with time and eventually drops to 12-35% in patients with a duration of > 5 years or more (3)(4)(5)(6)(7). This phenomenon suggests that pancreatic j3-cells, which survive the early autoimmune process of IDDM, may provide antigenic stimuli for the generation of ICAs.…”

“…Islet cell antibodies (ICAs) are considered to be a marker for pancreatic /3-cell damage caused by autoimmune reactions in the etiology of IDDM (1,2). Several reports have shown that ICAs are detectable in the majority of IDDM patients during the early stage of diabetes and that these titers subsequently decrease and disappear as the disease progresses (3)(4)(5)(6)(7). However, several reports have demonstrated that some IDDM patients continue to be ICA + with low titers for a long period after diagnosis (8,9).…”

Can Islet Cell Antibodies Predict IDDM in the General Population?

“…Most other studies have reported much lower rates, ranging from 0.24% in The Netherlands (18), 0.3% in Spain (19), Japan (20), and Florida (21) to 1.6% in France (22). Only Sweden (3.0%) (23) and Finland (4.1%) (24) have reported higher rates, but these countries have an incidence of IDDM 1.5-2.5 times higher than that in England.…”

Isolated Adrenocorticotrophin Deficiency Associated with Anti-Pituitary Antibodies, Pituitary Cyst, Sphenoidal Cyst and Pineal Tumor.

“…The size and character of the abnormal mass in the pineal region was not changed for two years and was considered clinically as a benign tumor (Fig. 4, low patients with newly diagnosed IDDM had positive islet cell antibodies (ICA) in the serum [14,15], but infiltrative mononuclear cells were shown in some ICA-positive cases [14]. A time dependent decrease in mononuclear cells in the pancreatic islets of patients with IDDM was also suggested [13,16].…”