Northerner
Admin (Retired)
- Relationship to Diabetes
- Type 1
Researchers in Germany have further endorsed the effectiveness of a blood test that helps determine whether some adult diabetics diagnosed as type 2 diabetes are actually in the early stages of having type 1 diabetes.
Latent Autoimmune Diabetes of Adults (LADA) like type 1 diabetes, is an autoimmune response that that destroys insulin-producing beta cells in the pancreas. It is often misdiagnosed as type 2 diabetes because it looks and acts a lot like type 2– arising usually in adulthood and progressing slowly*– but, unlike type 2 diabetes, LADA results from the autoimmune destruction of insulin-producing beta cells.
A test for glutamic acid decarboxylase, or GAD, antibodies, has long been used as a method of differentiating between LADA (which is sometimes referred to at type 1.5 diabetes) and type 2 diabetes in people over age 30. With LADA as well as type 1 diabetes, the body’s immune system begins to attack its own beta cells. When the immune system attacks pathogens, one weapon in its arsenal is the creation of antibodies that bind to the foreign objects and mark them as invaders. In the case of autoimmune diabetes, the body begins to create antibodies against parts of proteins that are not foreign, but rather are associated with its own beta cells. GAD is one of the earliest proteins to be targeted by antibodies, and so by testing for the presence of GAD antibodies, doctors can determine whether there is an autoimmune reaction to beta cells taking place.
http://asweetlife.org/feature/lada-and-gad-diagnosing-type-1-5-diabetes/
Latent Autoimmune Diabetes of Adults (LADA) like type 1 diabetes, is an autoimmune response that that destroys insulin-producing beta cells in the pancreas. It is often misdiagnosed as type 2 diabetes because it looks and acts a lot like type 2– arising usually in adulthood and progressing slowly*– but, unlike type 2 diabetes, LADA results from the autoimmune destruction of insulin-producing beta cells.
A test for glutamic acid decarboxylase, or GAD, antibodies, has long been used as a method of differentiating between LADA (which is sometimes referred to at type 1.5 diabetes) and type 2 diabetes in people over age 30. With LADA as well as type 1 diabetes, the body’s immune system begins to attack its own beta cells. When the immune system attacks pathogens, one weapon in its arsenal is the creation of antibodies that bind to the foreign objects and mark them as invaders. In the case of autoimmune diabetes, the body begins to create antibodies against parts of proteins that are not foreign, but rather are associated with its own beta cells. GAD is one of the earliest proteins to be targeted by antibodies, and so by testing for the presence of GAD antibodies, doctors can determine whether there is an autoimmune reaction to beta cells taking place.
http://asweetlife.org/feature/lada-and-gad-diagnosing-type-1-5-diabetes/
