“…Since the first reports of anti-islet cell autoantibodies in 1974 [10], many autoantigens in humans, NOD mice and BB rats have been identified, including an islet cell autoantigen with properties of sialic acid containing glycolipid [11], insulin [12], the insulin receptor [13], a 52-kDa protein [14,15], a 69-kDa protein [16,17], glutamic acid decarboxylase (GAD) [18], tyrosine phosphatase-2 (IA-2) [19,20], heat shock protein 65 (HSP65) [21,22], carboxypeptidase H (CPH) [23], the glucose transporter [24], a 38-kDa autoantigen [25,26], a retroviral antigen [27] and sex-determining region Y-related protein [28]. Among these autoantigens, GAD has been extensively studied with regard to its pathogenic role in the development of T1DM.…”