Prevalence of autoantibodies to carbonic anhydrase II and lactoferrin in patients with type 1 diabetes.

Recently, the high prevalence of autoantibodies against antigens expressed in exocrine pancreatic cells such as carbonic anhydrase II (ACA) and lactoferrin (ALF) was found in sera from adult Japanese patients with type 1 diabetes. Hence, we determined by ELISA the presence of ACA and ALF both in children (n = 27) and adult (n = 15) Caucasian patients with type 1 diabetes at diagnosis. Among children, ACA were found in one patient (3.7%) and ALF in three (11.1%). Among adults, CAA and ALF were detected in three patients (20%) and in one patient (6.7%), respectively. The prevalence of ACA and ALF observed in our Caucasian patients with type 1 diabetes at diagnosis did not reach the high value previously reported in adult Japanese patients.