Objective: To assess the clinical value of detecting glutamic acid decarboxylase antibody (GADA), islet cell antibody (ICA) and cytokines in the diagnosis of latent autoimmune diabetes in adults (LADA), and define the characteristics of the two different types of LADA.
Methods: A total of 500 patients with an initial diagnosis of type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) were tested for GADA, ICA and cytokines by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay.
Results: In type 2 diabetic patients approximately 11% were positive for GADA, who had similar symptoms as hypertension, hyperlipidemia and other diabetic complications to justify the diagnosis of LADA-2 subtype. Another 9.6% of the total patients were ICA-positive, and when compared with T2DM, these patients had similar clinical findings typical of type 1 diabetes such as younger age of onset, impaired beta cell function and dependence on insulin treatment. Therefore they had more resemblance to insulin-dependent diabetes and can be diagnosed as having LADA-1 subtype. It was also found that cytokines positively acted on GADA and ICA, showing positive correlation between them.
Conclusion: LADA has LADA-1 and LADA-2 subtypes, and GADA, ICA and cytokines test have important clinical significance for diagnosis of LADA.