ZnT8 autoantibody titers in type 1 diabetes patients decline rapidly after clinical onset.

Autoantibodies to the islet-specific zinc transporter isoform 8 (ZnT8) are detected in the majority of type 1 diabetes patients prior to and at clinical diagnosis. The presence of ZnT8Ab after diagnosis has not been investigated. This study analyzed the autoantibody response to ZnT8 in regard to age at onset and disease duration. Two new onset type 1 diabetes patient cohorts with different age distributions at onset (2-17 and 15-34 years of age at onset), a longitudinal subset of the younger type 1 diabetes patient cohort (n = 32), and a cohort of GAD65Ab-positive LADA patients (n = 47) was analyzed for the presence of autoantibodies directed to the two major isoforms, ZnT8-Arginine (ZnT8R) and ZnT8-Tryptophan (ZnT8W). The majority of type 1 diabetes patients tested positive for ZnT8Ab to both isoforms. ZnT8Ab titers were significantly higher in the younger type 1 diabetes patients as compared with the older cohort (ZnT8RAb at a median of 148 and 29 U/ml, respectively, p < 0.001) (ZnT8WAb at a median of 145 and 58 U/ml, respectively, p < 0.01). ZnT8RAb and ZnT8WAb titers were significantly lower in the LADA patients (ZnT8RAb at a median of 14 U/ml, ZnT8WAb at a median of 25 U/ml) as compared with either type 1 diabetes cohorts. In our longitudinal analysis of type 1 diabetes patients after clinical diagnosis, ZnT8Ab levels to both isoforms declined significantly during the initial year of disease (ZnT8RAb from a median of 320-162 U/ml, p = 0.0001; ZnT8WAb from a median of 128-46 U/ml, p = 0.0011). The antibody titers further declined during the following 4 years (p < 0.0001). We conclude that ZnT8Ab presents a useful marker for type 1 diabetes, especially in younger patients at disease diagnosis.

Low agreement between radio binding assays in analyzing glutamic acid decarboxylase (GAD65Ab) autoantibodies in patients classified with type 2 diabetes.

Autoantibodies against glutamic acid decarboxylase (GAD65Ab) are used in the classification of diabetes in adults. We assessed the concordance in GAD65 autoantibody levels within subjects between three different GAD65Ab radio binding assays (RBA). Plasma samples from 112 diabetes patients (median age 50 years) initially classified with type 2 diabetes was randomly selected from a local diabetes registry. Coded samples were analyzed with two RBA employing (35)S-labeled GAD65. The first used the pEx9 plasmid (pEx9 RBA), the second employed the pThGAD65 plasmid (pThGAD65 RBA) to label GAD65 by in vitro transcription translation. We also used a commercial kit employing plasmid pGAD17 labelled with (125)I (pGAD17 RBA). Subsequent analyses followed standard procedures. Two different cut-offs for GAD65Ab positivity were used in all three assays. We calculated the correlation, concordance, and agreement between the assays. The proportion of GAD65Ab positivity differed between assays when low cut-offs were used (pEx9 RBA 25%, pThGAD65 RBA 17.9%, and pGAD17 RBA 12.5%, respectively). When high cut-offs were applied, the concordance between the pEx9 RBA and the pThGAD65 RBA was 97.3 while their concordance to the pGAD17 RBA was lower (88.4 and 87.4, respectively). There was a low agreement between both pEx9 RBA and pGAD17 RBA (0.45, 95% CI 0.20-0.70) and between pThGAD65 RBA and pGAD17 RBA (0.43, 95% CI 0.18-0.68). We found discrepancies in determining the GAD65Ab positivity, which constitutes a problem when GAD65Ab are used clinically. Further methodological GAD65Ab assays studies are warranted.

Increased galanin expression in the celiac ganglion of BB diabetic rats.

BB rats lose >50% of their islet sympathetic nerve terminals soon after diabetes onset, markedly impairing the glucagon response to activation of these nerves. In this study, we sought evidence that this degree of disease-induced nerve terminal damage affected their neuronal cell bodies. Increased galanin expression was used as a marker of the change of phenotype that occurs in neuronal cell bodies when their axons are severely damaged. The celiac ganglion (CG) was analyzed because it is a major source of the sympathetic nerves that project to the pancreatic islets. But we first needed to determine if damaging nerve terminals could increase galanin expression in this ganglion and, if so, when that expression was maximal. Severe, global nerve terminal damage produced a dramatic increase of CG galanin expression which was maximal 5 days later. We next determined if a global, but partial, nerve terminal loss would also increase galanin expression and found a significant increase of galanin mRNA and its peptide in the CG. Finally, we determined if the disease-induced, partial and islet-selective loss of nerve terminals seen in BB diabetic rats was sufficient to increase galanin: we, again, found a significant increase of galanin mRNA and its peptide in their CG. These increases did not occur in their superior cervical ganglia. We conclude that the selective damage to islet sympathetic nerve terminals seen in BB diabetic rats, rather than the systemic factors of diabetic hyperglycemia or insulin deficiency, causes the increased galanin expression observed in the CG of this animal model of type 1 diabetes.