OBJECTIVE: Type 1 diabetes mellitus (T1DM) is one kind of organ-specific autoimmune disease related to the autoimmune response against pancreatic  ?-cell. Zinc transporter 8 (ZnT8) is an islet ?-cell secretory granule membrane protein recently identified as an autoantibody antigen in type 1 diabetes. The objective of this study was to evaluate the utility of zinc transporter 8 autoantibody (ZnT8A) for diagnosing type 1 diabetes mellitus (T1DM) in Dr. Soetomo Hospital.
METHODS: This was a case control study. We recruited from Javanese and Madura ethnic, consist of 30 children with type 1 diabetes and 18 children without diabetes aged less than 18 years old at Dr. Soetomo Academic General Hospital, Surabaya during March to May 2019. Diagnostic criteria of T1DM according to the International Society for Pediatric and Adolescent Diabetes (ISPAD). We measured ZnT8A level by ELISA with cut off value is 0.442, and glutamic acid decarboxylase (GADA) was measured by Rapid Test Autoimmune GAD65. Statistical analysis of chi-square was used with p<0.05.
RESULTS: There were 30 children with type 1 diabetes mellitus, consist of 15 (50%) boys. The positive of ZnT8A was 4/30 (13.3%) in the children with type 1 diabetes, compared to 1/18 (5.6%) in the children without type 1 diabetes (p=0.637). The GADA was detected 100% in the children with type 1 diabetes. ZnT8A was detected 4/8 (50%) in recent onset T1DM less than 3 years from diagnosis (p=0.003). ZnT8A was higher in younger children, accounting for 3/9 (33.3%) among 0-10 years and 1/21 (4.8%) among 11-18 years, but the differences were not statistically significant.
CONCLUSION: Zinc transporter 8 autoantibody (ZnT8A) more common detected in recent onset from diagnosis of type 1 diabetes mellitus in children.