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AUTOIMMUNE CRANIAL DIABETES INSIPIDUS: ITS ASSOCIATION WITH OTHER ENDOCRINE DISEASES AND WITH HISTIOCYTOSIS X
Author(s) -
SCHERBAUM W. A.,
WASS J. A. H.,
BESSER G. M.,
BOTTAZZO G. F.,
DONIACH DEBORAH
Publication year - 1986
Publication title -
clinical endocrinology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.055
H-Index - 147
eISSN - 1365-2265
pISSN - 0300-0664
DOI - 10.1111/j.1365-2265.1986.tb01707.x
Subject(s) - autoantibody , medicine , diabetes insipidus , autoimmune disease , endocrinology , autoimmunity , vasopressin , antibody , histiocytosis , endocrine system , immunology , disease , hormone
SUMMARY Thirty‐nine patients with idiopathic cranial diabetes insipidus (DI) and 81 secondary to hypothalamic lesions were investigated for the presence both of associated autoimmune diseases and autoantibodies. Eleven (28%) of the idiopathic but none of the secondary DI cases had an overt autoimmune disease. A further two patients with idiopathic DI had associated organ‐specific autoantibodies. Autoantibodies to vasopressin (AVP)‐secreting hypothalamic cells were detected in 12 patients with idiopathic DI (31 %). Seven out of 13 cases of DI secondary to histiocytosis X (HX) were also positive (54%), whereas only two (3%) of the other 68 sera from patients with secondary DI reacted with AVP cells. Of the 13 patients with DI associated with frank organ‐specific autoimmune diseases or autoantibodies alone, eight (62%) were positive for AVP‐cell antibodies. The finding of associated autoimmune diseases in a patient with idiopathic DI is therefore suggestive of an autoimmune origin of DI, and this can be supported by the detection in the serum of AVP cell antibodies. In cases of HX, the new finding of the presence of AVP‐cell antibodies reflects hypothalamic infiltration by HX cells, and suggests that these DR+‘Langer‐hans‐like’ cells play more than a passive role in the hypothalamic lesion.