Prevalence of Positive Diabetes-Associated Autoantibodies among Type 2 Diabetes and Related Metabolic and Inflammatory Differences in a Sample of the Bulgarian Population.

Background: The study aimed to estimate the prevalence of unrecognized cases with positive autoantibodies among type 2 diabetes (T2D) in a sample of the Bulgarian population and to compare some metabolic and inflammatory markers to those of patients having negative autoantibodies and subjects with latent autoimmune diabetes (LADA).

Methods: Patients with T2D, patients with LADA, and control participants were enrolled. Antiglutamic acid decarboxylase, anti-insulinoma-associated 2, and antizinc transporter 8 autoantibodies were assayed through ELISA. C-reactive protein and interleukin 6 (IL-6) and tumor necrosis factor alpha were assessed.

Results: Ten percent of patients with T2D had positive autoantibodies. They had lower body mass index ( = 0.014), worse glycemic control (HbA1c, = 0.033), and better HDL cholesterol ( = 0.026) than those in negative autoantibodies cases. Compared to LADA, glycemia and anthropometric data did not differ significantly but metabolic syndrome was more prevalent among newly found cases with positive autoantibodies ( = 0.046). Their level of inflammatory markers was similar to that of patients having negative autoantibodies ( > 0.05), but IL-6 was higher when compared to LADA ( = 0.002).

Conclusion: Prevalence of patients having positive autoantibodies within T2D in the analyzed sample of the Bulgarian population was 10%. They shared common metabolic features with subjects with LADA, but inflammatory phenotype was closer to that of T2D.