Endocrine Abstracts

Objective: To examine immunoglobulin concentrations in the sera of children with type 1 diabetes and to compare them with those found in non-diabetic subjects.
Patients and Method: Serum immunoglobulin A and D concentrations were measured by ELISA in 35 children with type 1 diabetes and 46 healthy children (younger than 15 years of age).
Results: Serum immunoglobulin levels increase until the age of 15 but no sex variation has been found. Age variation of the mean immunoglobulin A and D level was examined for each two year age range and was plotted against age. Results showed that diabetic children, aged between 13 and 15 have elevated levels of both immunoglobulin A and D in their sera compared to age matched controls. There were no significant differences between the two groups at ages of less than 13. Statistical analysis suggested that children with insulin dependent diabetes mellitus had elevated levels of immunoglobulin A and D in their sera. It was found that non-diabetic control individuals had a mean immunoglobulin A level of 1.6 milligrams per millilitre and immunoglobulin D level of 12.1 micrograms per millilitre. On the other hand, diabetic patients had a mean immunoglobulin A level of 2.1 milligrams per millilitre and immunoglobulin D level of 17.2 micrograms per millilitre. These represented significant increases in both immunoglobulin A and D concentrations in the sera of diabetic children (probability less than 0.05). There was no significant difference in immunoglobulin G and M concentrations in children with type 1 diabetes compared to control.
Conclusion: The reason for the increased immunoglobulin D and A in diabetic children is not known; it might be because of the complications of diabetes mellitus. Thus should be more focused research to study these complex interactions of diabetic treatment, because this will not only allow us to understand the pathology of the immune system but will also allow us to design newer drugs.