[The relationship of HLA antigens to certain clinical forms of diabetes mellitus].

In 79 diabetic patients, 37 patients with diabetes mellitus type I and 42 patients with diabetes mellitus type II, the HLA-A, B and DR antigens were examined. An association of diabetes mellitus type I with HLA-B8, DR3 and DR4 was found. For the first time a relation between diabetes mellitus type I and HLA-B21 antigen was established. The early onset of the disease and the exhaustion of the endogenic insulin secretion are linked with B8 and DR3 carrier state while the late manifestations of diabetes mellitus and the preservation of one's own insulin production correlate with antigen B21. In the patients with diabetes mellitus Type II the frequency of antigen B21 and DR1 is increased and the carriers of B21 develop in the course of the disease relative insulin insufficiency and a secondary resistance toward sulfanilurea drugs.