Insulin-precipitating antibodies in insulin-treated and untreated diabetic patients.

Abstract

Although the existence of precipitating insulin antibodies (PIA) has been questioned by many authors, others have shown that such antibodies can really be found in insulin-treated animals. The authors have studied the problem in insulin-treated and untreated diabetic patients, using the agar-precipitation test ofOudin. It has been possible to demonstrate PIA in 20% of the 276 unselected diabetics studied. All control examinations were negative. Unexpectedly, the precipitation reaction was more often positive in the group of diabetics not treated with insulin. — The data of the authors disclose systematically for the first time the existence of PIA in man, and the prevalence of such antibodies in diabetic patients that have never been treated with insulin and in prediabetic subjects. These findings raise the question of an autoimmune pathogenesis of some types of diabetes.