Islet Autoantibody Detection by Electrochemiluminescence (ECL) Assay

Two fundamental aspects for precisely predicting the risk of developing type 1 diabetes by islet autoantibodies are assay sensitivity and disease specificity. We have recently developed electrochemiluminescent (ECL) insulin autoantibody (IAA) and GAD65 autoantibody (GADA) assays. ECL assays are sensitive, able to identify the initiation of islet autoimmunity earlier in life among high-risk young children before clinical onset of diabetes and are more disease specific because they are able to discriminate high-affinity, high-risk diabetes specific islet autoantibodies from low-affinity, low-risk autoantibodies.