Autoimmunity to islet proteins in children diagnosed with new-onset diabetes

Autoantibody and T cells reacting with islet proteins have been demonstrated in patients with type 1 diabetes. In recent years an increasing number of children have been clinically classified with type 2 (not ketosis prone, evidence of insulin resistance, presence of acanthosis nigricans, and obesity) or indeterminant diabetes (admixture of clinical features of types 1 and 2). In this study, we compared the islet cell autoantibody and T-cell responses to islet proteins in type 2 (n = 19) and indeterminant (n = 16) children (< 18 yr of age) to classic type 1 (n = 37) diabetic patients. We observed that 37 of 37 type 1 diabetic children demonstrated autoantibody and/or T-cell reactivity to islet proteins. Fourteen of the 19 type 2 patients were positive for islet cell autoantibodies, and six of 14 were positive for T-cell responses to islet proteins. For the indeterminant patients, 11 of 16 of the patients were positive for autoantibodies, and six of 16 patients were positive for T-cell responses to islet proteins. These results demonstrate that autoimmunity to islet proteins is present in a high percentage of children classified as indeterminant or type 2 diabetes. Moreover, the presence of obesity or acanthosis nigracans does not reliably distinguish children with or without islet cell autoimmunity.