DISAPPEARANCE AND REAPPEARANCE OF ISLET CELL CYTOPLASMIC ANTIBODIES IN CYCLOSPORIN-TREATED INSULIN-DEPENDENT DIABETICS

Abstract

In 68 newly diagnosed patients with insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus (IDDM) whose treatment included cyclosporin (CyA) the prevalence and mean titre of islet cell cytoplasmic antibodies (ICA) fell faster than they did in the 56 who received only insulin. However, in the CyA-treated patients the prevalence or titre of ICA at diagnosis did not correlate with β-cell function as measured by glucagon-stimulated C-peptide levels; improvement and recovery of β-cell function after 30 days of CyA therapy occurred despite the continued presence of ICA; and CyA-induced remission of IDDM (ie, glucagon stimulated plasma C-peptide levels >0·6 pmol/ml) was not predicted by nor coincident with disappearance of ICA. Therefore, although CyA therapy was associated with a higher than expected frequency of remission and faster disappearance of ICA, the two observations were not temporally and may not be causally related. ICA should not be used to identify the target population for or to predict response to immunosuppressive therapy. The contribution of ICA to the pathogenesis of β-cell destruction in IDDM needs serious re-examination.