The objective of this study was to determine if islet autoantibodies (IA) can develop de novo in youth ≥10 y. We also explored the risk of progression to T1D in youth seroconverting to IA after 10 y.
From the prospective DAISY birth cohort (n=2547), we excluded those who were ever previously IA positive, disenrolled prior to age 10, or had >24 month gap in annual IA testing, leaving 917 for analysis. Seroconversion was defined as IA+ by radiobinding assays for insulin, GAD, IA-2 or ZnT8 autoantibodies, confirmed within 3-6 months. The same autoantibodies were also measured by electrochemiluminescence (ECL) assays, to identify high-affinity IA.
IA developed after age 10 at a higher rate (p=0.049) in first-degree relatives than in general population youth with increased-risk HLA (Figure 1); there was no difference by sex or race/ethnicity. Of the 35 IA+ seroconverters, 6 progressed to T1D, during a median follow-up of 5.04 years (IQR: 3.56-8.45). This included 2 of 5 individuals who were multiple IA+ at seroconversion, with at least one IA confirmed as high-affinity by ECL. Among those with a single persistent IA+ at seroconversion, 4/9 youth with high-affinity IA (ECL+) progressed to T1D, compared to 0/21 of the youth with low-affinity IA (ECL-).
In conclusion, seroconversion continues after age 10. In our genetically at-risk cohort, all who progress to T1D had high-affinity IA confirmed by ECL.
B.I. Frohnert: None. F. Dong: None. K. Waugh: None. A. Steck: None. J.M. Norris: None. L. Yu: None. M. Rewers: None.
JDRF (5-ECR-2017-388-A-N); National Institutes of Health (R01DK32493)