Autoantibodies against aminoacyl-tRNA synthetase: novel diagnostic marker for type 1 diabetes mellitus

Abstract

Objectives: To investigate whether or not antiaminoacyl-tRNA synthetase (aaRS) autoantibodies could be detected in patients with type 1 diabetes mellitus (DM) and be used as a diagnostic marker for type 1 DM, autoantibodies against aaRSs were measured in the plasma of normal subjects, patients with type 1 DM and patients with type 2 DM. Methods: An enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay was performed to detect anti-aaRS autoantibodies in the plasma of normal subjects, and patients with type 1 DM, and patients with type 2 DM. Results: From the 65 (normal), 58 (type 1 DM) and 57 (type 2 DM) subjects, anti-aaRS autoantibodies were found in 37.9% of patients with type 1 DM compared with 1.54% of the non-diabetic controls, and 5.26% of the patients with type 2 DM (p<0.0001). In addition, anti-aaRS autoantibodies were identified in 30% of patients with type 1 DM without classical type 1 DM autoantibodies. Conclusion: Anti-aaRS autoantibodies were identified in 37.9% of patients with type 1 DM. The results of this study demonstrate for the first time that autoantibodies against aaRSs are specifically associated with type 1 DM.