A four-dose course of rituximab partially preserved beta-cell function over a period of 1 year in patients with type 1 diabetes. The finding that B lymphocytes contribute to the pathogenesis of type 1 diabetes may open a new pathway for exploration in the treatment of patients with this condition. (ClinicalTrials.gov number, NCT00279305.)

Background The immunopathogenesis of type 1 diabetes mellitus (T1DM) is associated with T-lymphocyte autoimmunity. To be fully active, immune T-lymphocytes require a co-stimulatory signal in addition to the main antigen driven signal. Abatacept modulates co-stimulation andprevents full T-lymphocyte activation. We evaluated the effect of abatacept in recent-onset T1DM. Methods In this multicentre, double-masked, randomised controlled trial, 112 subjects (ages 6–36) recently diagnosed with T1DM; 77 received abatacept (10 mg/kg, maximum 1000 mg/dose) and 35 received placebo infusions intravenously on days 1, 14, 28, and monthly for a total of 27 infusions over two years. Primary outcome was baseline-adjusted geometric mean 2-hour area under the curve (AUC) serum C-peptide following a mixed meal tolerance test at two years. Secondary outcomes include difference between groups in incidence of loss of peak C-peptide to < 0·2 pmol/ml, slope of C-peptide over time, changes in HbA1c and insulin dose, and safety. This trial is registered in ClinicalTrials.gov (NCT00505375). Findings Adjusted C-peptide AUC was 59% (95% CI: 6·1%, 112%) higher at two years with abatacept (0·378 pmol/ml) versus placebo (0·238 pmol/ml) (p=0·0029). The difference between groups was present throughout the trial, with an estimated 9·6 months’ delay in decline with abatacept. There was lower HbA1c (p<0·002) but similar insulin use. There were few, clinically not significant infusion related adverse events and minimal overall adverse events. There was no increase in infections or neutropenia. Interpretation Co-stimulation modulation with abatacept slowed decline of beta cell function over two years. The beneficial effect suggests that T-lymphocyte activation still occurs around the time of clinical diagnosis of T1DM. Yet, despite continued administration of abatacept over 24 months, the decline in beta cell function with abatacept was parallel to that with placebo after six months of treatment, causing us to speculate that T-lymphocyte activation may lessen with time. Further observation will determine whether the beneficial effect continues after cessation of abatacept infusions. Funding National Institutes of Health.

An insulin resistance syndrome (IRS) score was developed based on clinical risk factors in adults with childhood-onset type 1 diabetes in the Epidemiology of Diabetes Complications (EDC) Study and was validated using euglycemic-hyperinsulinemic clamp studies. Hypertension, waist-to-hip ratio (WHR), triglyceride and HDL cholesterol levels, family history of type 2 diabetes, and glycemic control were risk factors used to define the score. A score of 1 (lowest likelihood IRS) to 3 (highest likelihood IRS) was assigned for each risk f a c t o r. Eligible subjects (n = 24) were recruited from the EDC cohort based on tertile of IRS score. Subjects received an overnight insulin infusion to normalize glucose levels, then underwent a 3-h euglycemic-hyperinsulinemic (60 mU · m -2 · min -1 ) clamp. Glucose disposal rate (GDR) was determined during the last 30 min of the clamp. The GDR differed significantly by IRS group (9.65 ± 2.99, 8.02 ± 1.39, and 5.68 ± 2.16 m g · k g -1 · m i n -1 , P < 0.01). The GDR was inversely correlated with the IRS score (r = -0.64, P < 0.01). Using linear regression, the combination of risk factors that yielded the highest adjusted r 2 value (0.57, P < 0.001) were WHR, hypertension, and HbA 1 . This study found that clinical risk factors can be used to identify subjects with type 1 diabetes who are insulin resistant, and it provides validation of a score based on clinical factors to determine the extent of insulin resistance in type 1 diabetes. This score will be applied to the entire EDC population in future studies to determine the effect of insulin resistance on complications. D i a b e t e s 4 9 :6 2 6-632, 2000

OBJECTIVE -To determine the independent risk factors for coronary artery disease (CAD) in type 1 diabetes by type of CAD at first presentation. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS-This is a historical prospective cohort study of 603 patients with type 1 diabetes diagnosed before 18 years of age between 1950 and 1980. The mean age and duration of diabetes at baseline were 28 (range 8 -47) and 19 years (7-37), respectively, and patients were followed for 10 years. Patients with prevalent CAD were excluded from the study. Electrocardiogram (ECG) ischemia was defined by Minnesota Code (MC) 1.3, 4.1-3, 5.1-3, or 7.1; angina was determined by Pittsburgh Epidemiology of Diabetes Complications (EDC) study physician diagnosis; and hard CAD was determined by angiographic stenosis Ն50%, revascularization procedure, Q waves (MC 1.1-1.2), nonfatal myocardial infarction (MI), or CAD death.RESULTS -A total of 108 incident CAD events occurred during the 10-year follow-up: 17 cases of ECG ischemia, 49 cases of angina, and 42 cases of hard CAD (5 CAD deaths, 25 nonfatal MI or major Q waves, and 12 revascularization or Ն50% stenosis). Blood pressure, lipid levels, inflammatory markers, renal disease, and peripheral vascular disease showed a positive gradient across the groups of no CAD, angina, and hard CAD (P Ͻ 0.01, trend analysis, all variables), although estimated glucose disposal rate (eGDR) and physical activity showed inverse associations (P Ͻ 0.01, trend analysis, both variables). In addition, depressive symptomatology predicted angina (P ϭ 0.016), whereas HbA 1 showed no association with subsequent CAD.CONCLUSIONS -These data suggest that although the standard CAD risk factors are still operative in type 1 diabetes, greater glycemia does not seem to predict future CAD events. In addition, depressive symptomatology predicts angina and insulin resistance (eGDR) predicts hard CAD end points. Diabetes Care 26:1374 -1379, 2003B oth type 1 and type 2 diabetes increase the risk of coronary artery disease (CAD) (1). However, the reasons underlying this are largely unknown, although renal disease (2) and the standard CAD risk factors seem important (3). The role of glycemic control is controversial; two studies (3,4) suggest little relationship to CAD, although others report such an association (5).Although it has been an accepted practice to consider all CAD manifestations together, because they are believed to be linked by the same underlying atherosclerosis, important differences have been noted in the Pittsburgh Epidemiology of Diabetes Complications (EDC) study of type 1 diabetes. This study suggested somewhat distinct pathophysiologic mechanisms; for example, depressive symptomatology was more related to morbidity than mortality (3).To further address these issues, risk factors, including glycemic control, for angina, ischemic electrocardiogram (ECG), and hard CAD (myocardial infarction [MI], CAD death, or angiographically proven stenosis) were investigated in this prospective study of type 1 diabetes using, for the first time, the ...

Declining incidences in Europe of overt nephropathy, proliferative retinopathy, and mortality in type 1 diabetes have recently been reported. However, comparable data for the U.S. and trend data for neuropathy and macrovascular complications are lacking. These issues are addressed using the prospective observational Pittsburgh Epidemiology of Childhood-Onset Diabetes Complications Study. Participants were stratified into five cohorts by diagnosis year: 1950 -1959, 1960 -1964, 1965-1969, 1970 -1974, and 1975-1980. Mortality, renal failure, and coronary artery disease (CAD) status were determined on the complete cohort (n ‫؍‬ 906) at 20, 25, and 30 years. Overt nephropathy, proliferative retinopathy, and neuropathy were assessed at 20 and 25 years on the subset of participants with a clinical examination. There was a decreasing trend by diagnosis year for mortality, renal failure, and neuropathy across all time intervals (P < 0.05), with the 1950 -1959 cohort having a fivefold higher mortality at 25 years than the 1970s' cohorts. Proliferative retinopathy and overt nephropathy showed nonsignificant declines at 20 years (P < 0.16 and P < 0.13, respectively) and no change at 25 years. CAD event rates, which were lower than the other complications, also showed no trend. Although some type 1 diabetes complications (mortality, renal failure, and neuropathy) are declining, others (CAD, overt nephropathy, and proliferative retinopathy) show less favorable changes by 30 years.

Background Type 1 diabetes (T1DM) is an autoimmune disease leading to destruction of insulin producing beta cells and life-long requirement for insulin therapy. Glutamic acid decarboxylase (GAD) is a major target of this immune response. Studies in animal models of autoimmunity have shown that treatment with a target antigen can modulate aggressive autoimmunity. We evaluated immunization with GAD formulated in aluminum hydroxide (alum) as an adjuvant in recent onset T1DM. Methods In this multicentre, double-masked, randomised controlled trial, 145 subjects (ages 3-45) with T1DM for less than 3 months received 3 injections of 20 μg GAD-alum (48 subjects), 2 injections of GAD-alum and one of alum alone (49 subjects) or 3 injections of alum (48 subjects) subcutaneously at baseline, 4 weeks later and 8 weeks after the second injection. Primary outcome was baseline-adjusted geometric mean 2-hour area under the curve (AUC) serum C-peptide following a mixed meal tolerance test at one year. Secondary outcomes included changes in HbA1c and insulin dose, and safety. This trial is registered in ClinicalTrials.gov (NCT00529399). Findings The ratio (experimental to control) of the adjusted population mean of C-peptide for the GAD-alum ×3 and GAD-alum ×2/alum ×1 groups is 0.998 (95% CI: [0.779, 1.22], p = 0.98) and 0.926 (95% CI: [0.720, 1.13], p = 0.50), respectively. HbA1c and insulin use did not differ between groups. There was no difference in rate or severity of adverse events between groups. Interpretation Antigen-based immunotherapy therapy using GAD-alum given subcutaneously in two or three doses over 4 to 12 weeks does not alter the course of loss of insulin secretion over one year in subjects with recently diagnosed T1DM. While antigen-based therapy is a highly desireable treatment and is effective in animal models, translation to human autoimmune disease remains a challenge. Funding National Institutes of Health.

The prevalence of and interrelationships among all four major complications of insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus (IDDM) and their risk factors are being examined in a large epidemiologic study of IDDM subjects diagnosed in childhood. This article focuses on the baseline prevalence of complications in the 657 subjects diagnosed between 1950 and 1980 and currently aged 8-48 yr, with a mean duration of 20 yr. In addition to background retinopathy being virtually universal after 20 yr of diabetes, proliferative retinopathy affects 70% of IDDM subjects after 30 yr duration. As with overt nephropathy, prevalence of proliferative retinopathy is marginally higher in females than in males at short durations; the previously reported male excess is limited to the subjects with IDDM of longer duration (greater than or equal to 25 yr). Somewhat different patterns of microalbuminuria are also seen by sex. Males show a threefold increase in prevalence from 10 to 25 yr duration, whereas females show a more constant prevalence across these durations. A further rise in microalbuminuria is seen in males but not females at greater than or equal to 30 yr duration, giving a combined prevalence of microalbuminuria and overt nephropathy at greater than or equal to 30 yr duration of 84% (males) and 59% (females). Distal symmetrical polyneuropathy shows a constant rise with duration and is only marginally higher in men. Prevalence of cardiovascular (coronary and cerebral) disease shows no sex difference, whereas peripheral vascular disease is particularly common in women after 30 yr duration (greater than 30%) compared with men (11%) when determined by ankle/arm blood pressure ratio less than 0.8 at rest or after exercise.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Summary Background Innate immunity contributes to the pathogenesis of autoimmune diseases, such as type 1 diabetes, but until now no randomised, controlled trials of blockade of the key innate immune mediator interleukin-1 have been done. We aimed to assess whether canakinumab, a human monoclonal anti-interleukin-1 antibody, or anakinra, a human interleukin-1 receptor antagonist, improved β-cell function in recent-onset type 1 diabetes. Methods We did two randomised, placebo-controlled trials in two groups of patients with recent-onset type 1 diabetes and mixed-meal-tolerance-test-stimulated C peptide of at least 0·2 nM. Patients in the canakinumab trial were aged 6–45 years and those in the anakinra trial were aged 18–35 years. Patients in the canakinumab trial were enrolled at 12 sites in the USA and Canada and those in the anakinra trial were enrolled at 14 sites across Europe. Participants were randomly assigned by computer-generated blocked randomisation to subcutaneous injection of either 2 mg/kg (maximum 300 mg) canakinumab or placebo monthly for 12 months or 100 mg anakinra or placebo daily for 9 months. Participants and carers were masked to treatment assignment. The primary endpoint was baseline-adjusted 2-h area under curve C-peptide response to the mixed meal tolerance test at 12 months (canakinumab trial) and 9 months (anakinra trial). Analyses were by intention to treat. These studies are registered with ClinicalTrials.gov, numbers NCT00947427 and NCT00711503, and EudraCT number 2007-007146-34. Findings Patients were enrolled in the canakinumab trial between Nov 12, 2010, and April 11, 2011, and in the anakinra trial between Jan 26, 2009, and May 25, 2011. 69 patients were randomly assigned to canakinumab (n=47) or placebo (n=22) monthly for 12 months and 69 were randomly assigned to anakinra (n=35) or placebo (n=34) daily for 9 months. No interim analyses were done. 45 canakinumab-treated and 21 placebo-treated patients in the canakinumab trial and 25 anakinra-treated and 26 placebo-treated patients in the anakinra trial were included in the primary analyses. The difference in C peptide area under curve between the canakinumab and placebo groups at 12 months was 0·01 nmol/L (95% CI −0·11 to 0·14; p=0·86), and between the anakinra and the placebo groups at 9 months was 0·02 nmol/L (−0·09 to 0·15; p=0·71). The number and severity of adverse events did not differ between groups in the canakinumab trial. In the anakinra trial, patients in the anakinra group had significantly higher grades of adverse events than the placebo group (p=0·018), which was mainly because of a higher number of injection site reactions in the anakinra group. Interpretation Canakinumab and anakinra were safe but were not effective as single immunomodulatory drugs in recent-onset type 1 diabetes. Interleukin-1 blockade might be more effective in combination with treatments that target adaptive immunity in organ-specific autoimmune disorders. Funding National Institutes of Health and Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation.