A Comparative Study Between the Cytokine Elispot, Tetramer, Immunoblot, and T Cell Proliferation Assays Using Fresh Blood Samples From Subjects With Recent Onset Type 1 Diabetes Mellitus
A Comparative Study Between the Cytokine Elispot, Tetramer, Immunoblot, and T Cell Proliferation Assays Using Fresh Blood Samples From Subjects With Recent Onset Type 1 Diabetes Mellitus
Type 1 diabetes is a condition that is caused in part by an abnormality of the immune system which occurs when T cells, which are part of the immune system, damage the insulin secreting cells (islet cells) in the pancreas. Although it is known that T cells are important mediators of the disease, progress in the development of reliable T cell assays has been modest. The purpose of this study is to learn which T cell assays are most reliable and reproducible so that the investigators can improve their understanding about how type 1 diabetes occurs.
The T Cell Validation Study is designed to determine the ability of T cell assays to identify differences in responses from participants with type 1 diabetes compared to normal control subjects, and to compare four different laboratory tests which examine T cells to determine whether the measurements are quantitatively reproducible.
Antibody assays that confirm the presence of type 1 diabetes will be evaluated including: Diabetes Biochemical Autoantibody Assay (anti-GAD65, anti-ICA512, anti-insulin) and Islet Cell Autoantibody testing; genetic testing (deoxyribonucleic acid [DNA] and human leukocyte antigen [HLA]) will also be done to learn more about the T cell assays.
The following T Cell Assays will be conducted in individuals with type 1 diabetes, as well as those without type 1 diabetes:
Inclusion Criteria:
To be eligible, individuals with type 1 diabetes must be:
Exclusion Criteria:
Individuals must not: