Background/aim: An in-depth understanding of the early phase of type 1 diabetes (TID) pathogenesis is important for targeting primary prevention. We examined if 14 preselected mediators of immune responses differed in neonates that later developed TID compared to control neonates. Methods: The study is a case-control study with a 1:2 matching. The individuals were born between 1981 through 2002. Cases were validated using the National Patient Register and the Danish Childhood Diabetes Register. Interleukin(1)-1 beta, IL-4, IL-6, IL-8, IL-10, IL-12p70, interferon gamma, tumor necrosis factor alpha, transforming growth factor beta I (active form), leptin, adiponectin, c-reactive protein, mannose-binding lectin and soluble triggering receptor expressed on myeloid cells-1 were measured by using a flowmetric Luminex xMAP (R) technology. We tested two models both including a number of possible confounders. In the first model (model 1) we also adjusted for HLA-DQ beta 1) genotype. A total of 1930 groups of assay-matched cases and controls (4746 individuals) were included in the statistical analyses. Results: Adiponectin was negatively associated with later risk of TID in both models (relative change (RC), model 1: 0.95, P = 0.046 and model 2: 0.95, P = 0.006). IL-10 and IL-12 were both positively associated with T1D risk in the model 2 (RC, 1.19, P = 0.006 and 1.07, P = 0.02, respectively) these results were borderline significant in model 1, but showed the same direction as the results from model 2. Conclusions: Our results indicate that specific immunological signatures are already present at time of birth in children developing T1D before the age of 18 years. (C) 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.