[The role of hyperinsulinemia in the immunopathogenesis of atherosclerosis in diabetics].

In chronic insulin overdosage patients with insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus have marked shifts in the values of blood serum lipid spectrum, increased number of circulating immune complexes correlating with the increased amount of immunoreactive insulin, and considerable shifts of the functional and metabolic characteristics of blood monocytes. Chronic overdosage of insulin leads in these patients to stable shifts of biochemical and immunological values similar to those encountered in patients with ischemic heart disease but without diabetes. These shifts persist in stable normoglycemia and predispose to the development of atherosclerosis.