Type 1 Diabetes Autoantibodies Prediction and Diagnosis of
Autoimmune Diabetes By Patricia W. Mueller, PhD, Peter
Achenbach, MD, Vito Lampasona, Michael Schlosser, PhD, and
Alistair J. K. Williams Photo reprinted from reference 6 with
permission of Elsevier. In 2007, the economic burden of diabetes
was a staggering $116 billion for direct medical costs and $58
billion for indirect costs, such as disability, work loss, and
premature mortality. Today, the disease affects more than 23.6
million people in the U.S., or 7.8% of the population, with
those numbers rising dramatically (1). The autoimmune forms of
diabetes, which affects 2 to 4 million people, include type 1
diabetes (T1D), an estimated 5% to 10% of those with diabetes,
and latent autoimmune diabetes in adults (LADA), estimated to be
5% to 10% of those diagnosed with type 2 diabetes (T2D) (2).
T1D, previously called insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus or
juvenile onset diabetes, occurs when the body’s immune system
destroys the pancreatic β-cells that