ISLET-CELL ANTIBODIES IN DIABETES MELLITUS WITH AUTOIMMUNE POLYENDOCRINE DEFICIENCIES

Antibodies to pancreatic islet cells were found by immunofluorescence in the sera of 13 patients with multiendocrine deficiencies associated with organ-specific autoimmunity. 10 of these patients were diabetic. The antibodies were complement fixing and of IgG class; titres varied from 1 to 160 and were independent of insulin treatment. The presence of organ-specific pancreatic antibodies supports the hypothesis of an autoimmune form of diabetes mellitus put forward to explain the histological " insulitis " found in selected cases of this disease. This new marker allows the segregation of a homogeneous group of insulin-dependent diabetics who may well prove to have a different metabolic pattern from that in other forms of inherited diabetes mellitus.