The prevalence of selective IgA deficiency in type 1 diabetes mellitus

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Abstract
A significant increase in the prevalence of selective IgA deficiency has been observed in patients with autoimmune disorders such as systemic lupus erythematosus and rheumatoid arthritis. Insulin‐dependent diabetes mellitus (IDDM) is an autoimmune disease and susceptibility to both IDDM and IgA deficiency is associated with HLA DQB1 alleles encoding non‐Asp amino acids at position 57. In order to assess whether the prevalence of selective IgA deficiency is increased in IDDM, we have screened a homogeneous series of adult patients with IDDM for selective IgA deficiency. One patient (1:261) was found to have a selective IgA deficiency. The prevalence of selective IgA deficiency among adult French blood donors is 1:1400. Thus, although IDDM and selective IgA deficiency are both associated with the presence of non‐Asp amino acids at position 57 of the HLA DQβ chain, the frequency of this immunodeficiency in adult IDDM patients is not significantly increased.