U-CyTech has launched a completely new product line, allowing the sensitive and accurate detection of specific autoantibodies involved in different type of diseases. As second in line, we like to introduce to you our new Human Insulin Autoantibody Assay kit, which measures autoantibodies against insulin (IAAs) in human serum.
IAAs are important biomarkers in type 1 diabetes mellitus (T1D), a chronic T cell-mediated organ-specific autoimmune disease. IAAs are one out of four islet autoantibodies, which all recognize antigens found on secretory granules within pancreatic beta cells. These autoantibodies often appear years before clinical onset of T1D and are key markers to enroll newly diagnosed T1D patients and their family members in intervention trials aimed at prevention or halting the disease process. The majority of people, 95% or more, with new-onset T1D will have at least one islet autoantibody. IAAs are found in approximately 50% of T1D children, while IAA positivity is less common (<10%) in diabetic adults. Since IAAs often precede other autoimmune markers, insulin is often considered as an autoantigen that plays a role early in the pathogenic process of T1D.
U-CyTech has developed a highly sensitive immuno-enzymatic capture assay for the quantitative determination of IAAs in human serum. The performance of the test is easy and straightforward and therefore simple to implement in the laboratory. The assay is based on a method that preserves the native conformation of the insulin molecule and avoids steric hindrance of antibody binding. In addition, the test includes an internal negative control for each sample analysis, thereby minimizing the chance on false positivity. Overall, the new assay is a convenient and non-radioactive tool allowing you to measure IAAs in a rapid, sensitive and reproducible way.
One Autoantibody Assay kit is supplied with 1 precoated 96-well strip plate (12 breakable strips of 8 wells) and all necessary reagents to analyze 22 samples in duplicate.
References
1. Van Belle et al. Type 1 Diabetes: Etiology, Immunology, and Therapeutic Strategies. Physiol Rev 2011; 91:79-118.
2. Nokoff et al. The interplay of autoimmunity and insulin resistance in Type 1 diabetes. Discov Med 2012; 13 (69):115-22.
3. Parikka et al. Diabetologia 2012 Jul;55(7):1926-36. Early seroconversion and rapidly increasing autoantibody concentrations predict prepubertal manifestation of type 1 diabetes in children at genetic risk.