Children with newly diagnosed IDDM have increased levels of antibodies to bovine serum albumin but not to ovalbumin. Childhood Diabetes in Finland Study Group.
To study the humoral immune response to bovine serum albumin (BSA) and ovalbumin (OA) in children with newly diagnosed insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus (IDDM).
We examined serum samples from 505 children 0.8-14.9 years of age with newly diagnosed IDDM for antibodies to BSA and OA by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). We also had two control groups: 85 unrelated control children (0.8-7.1 years of age) and 395 nondiabetic siblings (3.0-14.9 years of age). The specificity of antibodies detected in ELISA was confirmed by immunoblotting in a subset of sera with varying levels of antibodies.