A solid-phase enzyme immunoassay for anti-insulin antibody in diabetes mellitus patients.

A solid-phase enzyme immunoassay for the measurement of anti-insulin antibodies in the sera of patients with diabetes mellitus was developed. Porcine insulin conjugated with bovine serum albumin was used for coating microtiter plates. This assay was as sensitive as the conventional radioimmunoassay. Anti-insulin antibody titers measured by the enzyme immunoassay and conventional radioimmunoassay correlated well and the correlation coefficient was 0.920, which was statistically significant (P less than 0.001). The enzyme immunoassay detected anti-insulin antibody in 23 out of 35 sera of patients with insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus. The present enzyme immunoassay does not require radioactive materials, is less expensive and is concluded to be practically useful.