Islet-cell antibodies and HLA type in Japanese insulin-dependent diabetics.

Pancreatic islet-cell antibodies (I.C.Ab.) were detected in the sera of 6 of 123 patients with insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus of recent onset, compared with only 2 positive results among the 434 control sera. The prevalence of humoral I.C.Ab. was strongly dependent on the duration of the diabetes, being 4 of 6 I.C.Ab. positive patients during the first year from diagnosis and falling to 2 of 6 I.C.Ab. positive patients at one to three years. Over four years from the time of diagnosis, there was no I.C.Ab. in the sera of the diabetics. Six I.C.Ab. positive in our group of 123 diabetic patients showed no association with any particular B locus antigen or DYT.