What Are Insulin Antibodies?

There are two types of insulin antibodies. One occurs in patients receiving exogenous insulin therapy, which is mainly related to the purity of insulin preparations, and one occurs in patients who have never received insulin therapy, known as insulin autoantibodies.

Name: Insulin antibody

category: Immunology

Normal insulin antibody

negative.

Clinical significance of insulin antibodies

Insulin antibodies are of great significance in the diagnosis, differential diagnosis and treatment of diabetes and hypoglycemia. (1) Early detection of type 1 diabetes: Normal people who are found to have insulin antibodies in their blood are susceptible to type 1 diabetes. Insulin autoantibodies may be produced by & beta; cell destruction, so the detection of insulin autoantibodies can be used as a marker of autoimmune & beta; cell damage and can be used for early detection and prevention of type 1 diabetes. (2) Diagnose insulin resistance and guide the treatment of diabetes: The presence of insulin antibodies in the blood is an important cause of insulin resistance. Diabetic patients may develop insulin resistance due to the production of insulin antibodies during the course of insulin treatment, which is shown by the daily increase in insulin consumption. But blood sugar control is not ideal. Insulin antibodies should be detected at this time, if positive or increased titer can be used as an objective basis for insulin resistance. Switching to single-component insulin, high-purity insulin, stopping insulin, taking oral hypoglycemic agents, or using glucocorticoids can all help reduce the concentration of insulin antibodies and improve insulin resistance. (3) Insulin autoimmune syndrome: Since Hirata was first reported in 1970, domestic and foreign reports have increased year by year. Insulin autoimmune syndrome (IAS) is characterized by severe hypoglycemia, hyperinsulinemia, insulin antibody (IAA) positive, and never received exogenous insulin therapy. IAS hypoglycemic episodes are self-limiting and 82% resolve spontaneously within 1 year without treatment, but the episodes are more severe and difficult to diagnose. In addition to symptomatic treatment, the use of adrenocortical hormones may have some value. Genetic susceptibility may play an important role in the development of IAS.

Insulin antibody considerations

In insulin-dependent diabetes, the positive rate of anti-islet cell antibodies is 20% -40%, and the positive rate during active phase can reach 60% -70%; the positive rate of non-insulin-dependent diabetes is only 6.2%. Therefore, detection of islet antibodies can distinguish type 2 diabetes.