Autoantibodies against mitochondrial glycerophosphate dehydrogenase in patients with IDDM.

The mitochondrial enzyme FAD-linked glycerophosphate dehydrogenase (mGDH) plays a key role in the recognition of D-glucose as a stimulus for insulin release from the pancreatic islet B-cell. This study reveals that autoantibodies against this enzyme are not uncommonly found in patients with insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus (IDDM) examined at the onset of the disease. Antibodies reacting with a recombinant mGDH fragment product were observed in the serum of four out of 15 type-1 diabetics, but in none of 15 control subjects. The serum of patients positive for the recombinant mGDH fragment also recognized native mGDH in a rat testis extract, provided that the enzymatic protein was first exposed to an anti-mGDH rabbit serum. Antibodies against mGDH were also found in four out 12 patients with autoimmune thyroiditis. These findings reveal that a mitochondrial enzyme, that represents an essential component of the islet B-cell glucose-sensing device, may act as an antigenic determinant in patients with IDDM or other autoimmune diseases.