ANTIRETICULIN ANTIBODIES IN SERA OF CHILDREN WITH INSULIN-DEPENDENT DIABETES-MELLITUS

Sera from 125 children (mean age 9.5 +/- 3.9; range 0.5-18 years) with newly diagnosed insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus were examined for the presence of antireticulin antibodies (ARA). Fifty-four of these children were followed up over a period of 150-400 days after the onset of the disease with respect to their serum ARA. The indirect immunofluorescence method on human and rat tissue was used to detect autoantibodies. In each serum, the level of islet cell antibodies (ICA) was determined. The prevalence of ARA in our diabetic children (16%) was significantly higher than in normal population (P<0.05). In sera of newly diagnosed ICA-negative children, ARA were more frequent than in ICA-positive patients (P<0.025). The difference in ARA prevalence was even higher when patients were divided into two groups one with less and one with more than 30 JDFu (P<0.005). On the contrary, sera sampled 150-400 days after the manifestation of IDDM revealed neither a positive nor a negative association between ICA and ARA. Thus, the negative association of ARA with ICA in the early stages of IDDM may suggest the role of an autoimmune response to reticulin in part of the IDDM patients, and gives further evidence to the heterogeneity of IDDM.