the role of gad65 autoantibody in diabetes mellitus and their first-degree relatives and comparison with healthy persons

the diabetes is an autoimmune disease, in which the role of autoantibodies is of a specific importance. the appearance of these autoantibodies can be the first symptom in the serum of type i diabetic patients, which may appear ten years before onset of the disease. the most important autoantibodies include glutamic acid decarboxylase autoantibodies (gad65-ab). this can be used as a good tool for prediction in screening tests in type i diabetic patients. in the present study with prosedure ria, we investigated the level of gad65-ab in patients with diabetes type i and their close relatives, and compared them with healthy persons. from the type i diabetic patients who have been suffering from the disease for periods of one week to twenty years, 63.3% of them had positive anti-gad65. this ratio was 8% in their close trelatives, and 0% in healthy persons. the difference in anti-gad65 between the healthy persons and close relative of patients was significant. this test may be employed in diabetes type i, as a screening test, and confirms the results of studies which have been conducted so far outside this country.