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Children's immunologist

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Autoantibodies to islet cell antigens in the blood

Alexey Portnov, medical expert
Last reviewed: 18.10.2021

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The detection of autoantibodies to islet cell antigens has the greatest prognostic value in the development of type 1 diabetes. They appear 1-8 years before the clinical manifestation of the disease. Their detection allows the clinician to diagnose prediabetes, select a diet and conduct immunocorrective therapy. Such therapy plays an extremely important role, since the clinical symptoms of insulin deficiency in the form of hyperglycemia and related complaints appear when 80-90% of insulin-producing pancreatic β cells are affected, and the possibility of conducting immunocorrective therapy during this period of the disease is limited. The high level of autoantibodies to islet cell antigens in the preclinical period and in the debut of the disease gradually decreases for several years, until complete disappearance. Application in the treatment of immunosuppressants also leads to a decrease in the content of autoantibodies to the blood.

Determination of the concentration of autoantibodies to islet cell antigens and insulin in the blood can be used to assess the risk of developing type 1 diabetes mellitus during the next 5 years in the relatives of the first degree relative. In the case of autoantibodies to island cell antigens, more than 20 units the risk increases almost 8-fold and is 37%, with a combination of autoantibodies to the antigens of islet cells and insulin, it reaches 50%.

trusted-source [1], [2], [3], [4], [5], [6], [7], [8], [9], [10], [11], [12]

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