We present a patient with an “insuli: i autoim: nune syndrome”. A twenty one year old woman came to the hospital, suffering from frequently cccured hypoglycemic attacks on June 26, 1973.
Although the patient had never received exogenous insulin, significant insulin-binding antibodies were found in the serum, and a huge amount of immunoreactive insulin (21, 500, uU/ml) was detected from the serum at fasting.
Insulin-binding antibodies showed an affinity to bind human and pork insulin more than bovine insulin.
By radioimmunoelectrophoresis, insulin-binding antibodies were found in IgG. The light chain of insulin-binding globulins of the patient were of the kappa type.
Based on pathogenetic consideration, we started corticosteroid therapy to suppress the production of insulin-binding antibodies. The hypoglycemic attacks of the patient disappeared by the treatment, and after one year of steroid therapy, we could not detect elevated immunoreactive insulin in the serum of the patient.