Journal of autoimmunity
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Journal of autoimmunity · Oct 1994
Multicenter StudyHLA-DQB1 genotypes and islet cell antibodies in the identification of siblings at risk for insulin-dependent diabetes (IDDM) in Finland. Childhood Diabetes in Finland (DiMe) Study Group.
The risk of progression to IDDM can be evaluated by diabetes-related autoantibodies such as cytoplasmic islet cell antibodies (ICA) or genetic determinants as markers. In this prospective study we wanted to estimate the predictive value of the combination of these markers in siblings of diabetic children. A sample of 770 siblings was observed from the time of diagnosis in the index case for a median period of 5.8 years (range 0.01-7.3 years) for development of ICA and insulin autoantibodies (IAA) and progression to clinical diabetes. ⋯ More than half (11/28; 55%) of the siblings who had the high risk DQB1 genotypes progressed to clinical IDDM compared to 6/37 (16%) of those who had protective/neutral genotypes (P = 0.006). Of all genotyped secondary cases, 36% (n = 33) had a genotype associated with the highest risk (DQB1*0302/0201), whereas 27% had genotypes without any susceptibility alleles (P values < 0.0001 and = 0.0002, respectively, compared with ICA negative siblings). The results demonstrate the feasibility of the combination of genetic and immunological markers in the prediction of the risk for IDDM within families.