Prevalence of Antibodies to Nucleic Acids in Insulin-dependent Diabetics and Their Relatives

We have studied nucleic acid antibodies in 23 insulindependent diabetics, 27 of their first degree relatives, and 23 normal, unrelated controls. We have found a significantly increased prevalence of antibody to ss-DNA, ds-RNA (reovirus), and synthetic RNA (Poly A · Poly U, Poly I · Poly C) in the unaffected relatives as well as in the diabetics when compared with normal controls. There was no relationship in HLA.