Demonstration of Islet Cell Antibody (ICA) by utilizing the indirect fluorescent antibody method enables serologic assessment or possible detection of pancreatic disease. The presence of a (histologically defined) circulating antibody to one or more of the islet cell antigens can aid in patient diagnosis and prognosis. The substrate utilized in this kit is sections of monkey pancreas.
Islet Cell antibodies have been associated with a group of "autoimmune" endocrine disorders, more specifically with insulin dependent diabetes. Organ-specific autoimmunity is characterized by the presence of antibodies in patients that can be detected years before the onset of the clinical symptoms. These antibodies are useful monitors to detect well before metabolic tests can detect humoral deficiencies.
Patients with autoimmune thyroiditis, adrenalitis or gastritis have an increased risk of developing insulin dependent diabetes at any age. Overlapping of antibodies is one of the most important features in this group of disorders. The extreme situation is the "polyendocrine" syndrome where all the endocrine glands may be involved in the same patient. Since the discovery of the islet-cell antibodies in insulin dependent diabetes there has been growing interest as to their significance. Overlapping between disorders has been recognized clinically for over 60 years, with the need to screen for these antibodies gaining more attention.
So far, islet-cell antibodies have only been detected in association with overt autoimmunity, almost exclusively in insulin dependent diabetes, sometimes before onset as well as after the patient has been diagnosed. In these cases single or polyglandular autoimmune disorders coexists. This discovery lends strong credence to the concept of a true form of autoimmune diabetes mellitus. These islet cell antibodies may prove to be a marker for identifying autoimmune diabetes.