Type 1 Diabetes and Multiple Sclerosis
Together at last
- Janice S. Dorman, PHD1,
- Ann R. Steenkiste, MS1,
- James P. Burke, PHD2 and
- Marco Songini, MD3
- 1Department of Epidemiology, Graduate School of Public Health, University of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
- 2Department of Health Sciences Research, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minnesota
- 3Department of Internal Medicine, Ospedale S. Michele, Cagliari, Sardinia, Italy
- Address correspondence to Dr. Janice Dorman, A533 Crabtree Hall, Department of Epidemiology, Graduate School of Public Health, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA 15261. E-mail: jansdorman{at}aol.com
Last year, Marrosu et al. (1) reported an increased prevalence of type 1 diabetes among Sardinian individuals with multiple sclerosis and their first-degree relatives. The study was accompanied by a commentary (2) indicating that these autoimmune disorders were “an unlikely alliance” because the HLA haplotype that increases risk for multiple sclerosis (DRB1*15-DQA1*0102-DQB1*0602) protects against type 1 diabetes. To the authors’ knowledge, there have been no published studies of an increased risk of multiple sclerosis for individuals with type 1 diabetes or their families.
Could the association between type 1 diabetes and multiple sclerosis be unique to Sardinia, where the rates of these two disorders are among the highest in the …
