INS and type 1 diabetes mellitus: We have previously demonstrated a high prevalence of Abs targeting MAP-derived epitopes and their human homologs of proinsulin (PI) and zinc transporter 8 protein (ZnT8) in T1D at-risk subjects reaching 43% for MAP/PI homologous pair in Sardinian infants [19] and exceeding 62% for MAP/ZnT8 pair in youth from mainland Italy [20].