Insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus secondary to chronic pancreatitis is not associated with HLA or the occurrence of islet-cell antibodies.

We assessed HLA-DR types and investigated serum samples for islet-cell cytoplasmic antibodies (ICA) in 31 Danish patients with chronic pancreatitis. The antigen frequencies were compared with those in 1177 unrelated healthy Danish controls. Twenty patients had insulin-dependent diabetes and 11 had normal intravenous glucose tolerance. No significant differences in the frequencies of DR3, DR4, or DR2 were found between patients with insulin-dependent diabetes and patients with normal glucose tolerance or between any of these groups and controls. ICA were negative in all patients with chronic pancreatitis. It is concluded that the beta-cell dysfunction in insulin-dependent diabetes in chronic pancreatitis differs from that of classical insulin-dependent diabetes.