[Insulin antibody formation in diabetic children (author's transl)].

This is a report about the findings of insulin antibody formation (circulating IgG-antibodies) in 18 diabetic children. 1. High levels of antibodies during treatment with conventional insulin show a remarkable decrease under treatment with highly-purified insulins. 2. Insulin binding capacities were also found in children treated from diagnosis of the disease with highly-purified insulins, but they were all below 1.0 mU/ml. 3. Infectious diseases and intermittent insulin application seem to provoke an, at least briefly, increase of antibodies. 4. High levels of antibodies cause a high insulin requirement. Therefore only highly-purified insulin should be used for the treatment of childhood onset diabetes mellitus.