抄録
The non-obese diabetic (NOD) mouse has been developed as an animal model of insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus (IDDM) . The islet cell autoantibody and autoantibodies to glutamic acid decarboxylase, heat shock protein, and insulin can be detected and are thought to participate in the auto-immune reaction that leads to IDDM. We found that pancreatic α-amylase decreased after the onset of diabetes and an autoantibody to amylase in the sera of NOD mice could be detected by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. An increase in the autoantibody was usually followed by the onset of diabetes, and the concentration of the autoantibody in diabetic mice was significantly higher than in prediabetic mice. Although an autoantibody to amylase as a component of macroamylase has been known for several decades, no consistent pattern of disease association has been reported. Our findings suggest that the amylase autoantibody may play a role in the autoimmune reaction leading to IDDM in the NOD mouse and might be used as a predictive marker of diabetes.
