Increased Levels of Bovine Serum Albumin Antibodies in Patients With Type 1 Diabetes and Celiac Disease‐Related Antibodies

Abstract

ABSTRACTObjectivesTo detect the presence of antibodies against bovine serum albumin in a cohort of Spanish patients with type 1 insulin‐dependent diabetes.MethodsAntibodies were measured using an in‐house enzyme‐linked immunosorbent assay test in 80 patients with type 1 diabetes, subdivided according to the presence or absence in their serum of celiac disease‐related antibodies. For comparison, 30 patients with celiac disease (nondiabetic), 13 patients with autoimmune thyroiditis, and 45 healthy volunteers were used.ResultsThirty‐one percent of patients with diabetes yielded a positive result, with a mean value of 26.1 ± 21.8 arbitrary units (AU). If the group was split into those with celiac disease‐related antibodies and those lacking them, the percentages were 53% and 25%, respectively, with a mean value of 39.6 ± 28.4 AU and 22.4 ± 18.3 AU (P = 0.003), respectively. Seventy‐three percent of celiac patients showed bovine serum albumin antibodies with a mean level of 38.8 ± 27.7 AU, comparable to that of patients with diabetes with celiac antibodies, but higher than the group lacking them (P = 0.001). Although 46% of patients with autoimmune thyroiditis had positive results, the level detected (22.1 ± 8.7 AU) was significantly lower than that recorded in patients with type 1 diabetes who had celiac disease antibodies (P = 0.04) and celiac patients (P = 0.04). Healthy volunteers showed no antibodies against bovine serum albumin.ConclusionsThese data suggest that bovine serum albumin antibodies appears in patients with a compromised epithelial permeability, and they reflect a general defect in the process of immunologic tolerance associated with a predisposition to autoimmunity, rather than immunity specific to β cells.