Prevalence of GAD65 Antibodies in Lean Subjects with Type 2 Diabetes

Abstract
While type 2 diabetic subjects in developed countries are predom- inantly obese or overweight, those in India are often nonobese or lean. The rea- sons for leanness in these subjects has not been well understood. We assessed the prevalence of pancreatic islet autoimmunity in 83 lean adult subjects (BMI < 18.5 kg/m 2 ) with type 2 diabetes by measuring antibodies to glutamic acid de- carboxylase-65 (GAD Abs). Positivity to GAD Ab was present in 21 (25.3%) subjects. In addition, subjects with GAD Ab positivity were younger and had lower beta cell function (homeostasis model assessment, HOMA) as compared to the GAD Ab-negative group. This suggests that the antibody-positive group could have a slowly progressive form of type 1 diabetes.