April 29, 2001
Diagnosis and Symptoms
Question from Cali, Valle, Colombia:
Two weeks ago, my 10 year old son, who has had type 1 diabetes for two years, was tested for ICA (negative), GAD (negative) and IAA (22.1 Units Kruns/ml, Reference: Less than 0.5, Radioimmunoassay). Could this mean that his problem is exclusively that of the insulin function? Could his beta cells be okay? Or are they already destroyed and the ICAs have disappeared?
Answer:
There is really not much reason to test for pancreatic antibodies unless as part of a research project or part of a sibling identification study. islet cell and GAD antibodies are sometimes not positive (about 30% of the time). Insulin antibodies cannot be tested after insulin is being administered and are only useful prior to receiving insulin (ie. at diagnosis or for screening purposes). So, I would suspect that all the antibodies are negative and your child still has classical type�1 diabetes based upon blood glucose readings and presentation at diagnosis.
SB
