Abstract
We previously reported that the autoantibody to pancreatic α-amylase in the sera of nonobese diabetic (NOD) mice was detectable and that an increase of the antibody was usually followed by the onset of diabetes. The concentration of the autoantibody in diabetic mice was significantly higher than that in prediabetic mice. To investigate its possible clinical significance, α-amylase autoantibody was assayed in the sera of 28 patients (13 men and 15 women) with insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus (IDDM) and 218 healthy controls (27 men and 119 women) by the enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. The average age of IDDM patients and age at onset of disease were 36±3 (mean±SE) and 25±2 years, respectively. The average age of healthy controls was 29±1 years. The concentration of the autoantibody in the IDDM group (7.66 equivalent to μg sheep anti-amylase IgG/ml) was significantly higher than that of the healthy control group (4.48 equivalent to μg sheep anti-amylase IgG/ml) . These findings suggest that a-amylase autoantibody may be associated with the autoimmune process of IDDM and might be used as a predictive marker for IDDM.
