High Prevalence of Anti-Glutamic Acid Decarboxylase (Anti-GAD) Antibodies in Employees at a Polychlorinated Biphenyl Production Factory

• Published in: Archives of environmental health 2002-09, Vol.57 (5), p.412-415
• Main Authors: Langer, Pavel, Tajtáková, Mária, Guretzki, Hans-Joachim, Kočan, Anton, Petrík, Ján, Chovancová, Jana, Drobná, Beáta, Jursa, Stanislav, Pavúk, Marián, Trnovec, Tomáš, Šeböková, Elena, Klimeš, Iwar
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Adult; Age Distribution; Aged; anti-GAD; anti-TPO prevalence; antibodies; Autoantibodies - blood; Biological and medical sciences; Case-Control Studies; Chemical and industrial products toxicology. Toxic occupational diseases; Diabetes Mellitus - chemically induced; Diabetes Mellitus - epidemiology; Environmental Monitoring; Epidemiological Monitoring; Female; Glutamate Decarboxylase - immunology; Humans; immunomodulation; industrial pollution; Male; Medical sciences; Middle Aged; Occupational Diseases - chemically induced; Occupational Diseases - epidemiology; Occupational Exposure - adverse effects; Occupational Exposure - analysis; polychlorinated biphenyls; Polychlorinated Biphenyls - analysis; Polychlorinated Biphenyls - immunology; Polychlorinated Biphenyls - poisoning; Prevalence; Risk Factors; Slovakia - epidemiology; Toxicology; Various organic compounds; Xenobiotics - analysis; Xenobiotics - immunology; Xenobiotics - poisoning
• ISSN: 0003-9896; 2331-4303
• DOI: 10.1080/00039890209601429

An increased prevalence of thyroid antibodies was seen in employees of a factory that formerly produced polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs). In this study, the authors expand the evaluation of possible long-term PCB effects by comparing the prevalence of glutamic acid decarboxylase (anti-GAD) antibodies with the development of diabetes mellitus. The sera of 240 factory employees and 704 control subjects were analyzed. Anti-GAD antibody values exceeded 1.20 U/ml in all employees (40.4%), was 4 times higher (p < .001) than in all controls (10.5%), and were 5 times higher in employees aged 51-60 yr (53.2%) than in age-matched controls (10.5%) (p < .001). Although the prevalence of diabetes could not be determined from this retrospective study, this is the first report of a possible relationship between xenobiotics and the prevalence of anti-GAD antibodies, and it supports the concept of an immunomodulatory effect of PCBs. However, such antibodies may be present decades before the development of clinical diabetes, and not all anti-GAD antibody-positive individuals become diabetic. Presently, it is unknown whether there is an increased prevalence of diabetes among the former factory employees.