A sensitive assay was used to measure the binding of iodine-125-labeled insulin in serum obtained from 112 newly diagnosed insulin-dependent diabetics before insulin treatment was initiated. Two groups of nondiabetics served as controls: children with a variety of diseases other than diabetes and nondiabetic siblings of insulin-dependent diabetics. Eighteen of the diabetics were found to have elevated binding and 36 were above the 95th percentile of control values. The insulin-binding protein is precipitated by antibody to human immunoglobulin G, has a displacement curve that is parallel and over the same concentration range as serum from long-standing insulin-dependent diabetics, and elutes from a Sephacryl S-300 column at the position of gamma globulin. These insulin antibodies are present in a large percentage of newly diagnosed, untreated diabetics and may be an immune marker of B-cell damage.

No abstract

The underlying cause of type 1 diabetes, loss of beta-cell function, has become the therapeutic target for a number of interventions in patients with type 1 diabetes. Even though insulin therapies continue to improve, it remains difficult to achieve normal glycemic control in type 1 diabetes, especially long term. The associated risks of hypoglycemia and end-organ diabetic complications remain. Retention of beta-cell function in patients with type 1 diabetes is known to result in improved glycemic control and reduced hypoglycemia, retinopathy, and nephropathy. To facilitate the development of therapies aimed at altering the type 1 diabetes disease process, an American Diabetes Association workshop was convened to identify appropriate efficacy outcome measures in type 1 diabetes clinical trials. The following consensus emerged: While measurements of immune responses to islet cells are important in elucidating pathogenesis, none of these measures have directly correlated with the decline in endogenous insulin secretion. HbA(1c) is a highly valuable clinical measure of glycemic control, but it is an insensitive measure of beta-cell function, particularly with the currently accepted standard of near-normal glycemic control. Rates of severe hypoglycemia and diabetic complications ultimately will be improved by therapies that are effective at preserving beta-cell function but as primary outcomes require inordinately large and protracted trials. Endogenous insulin secretion is assessed best by measurement of C-peptide, which is cosecreted with insulin in a one-to-one molar ratio but unlike insulin experiences little first pass clearance by the liver. Measurement of C-peptide under standardized conditions provides a sensitive, well accepted, and clinically validated assessment of beta-cell function. C-peptide measurement is the most suitable primary outcome for clinical trials of therapies aimed at preserving or improving endogenous insulin secretion in type 1 diabetes patients. Available data demonstrate that even relatively modest treatment effects on C-peptide will result in clinically meaningful benefits. The development of therapies for addressing this important unmet clinical need will be facilitated by trials that are carefully designed with beta-cell function as determined by C-peptide measurement as the primary efficacy outcome.

The American Diabetes Association, JDRF, the European Association for the Study of Diabetes, and the American Association of Clinical Endocrinologists convened a research symposium, “The Differentiation of Diabetes by Pathophysiology, Natural History and Prognosis” on 10–12 October 2015. International experts in genetics, immunology, metabolism, endocrinology, and systems biology discussed genetic and environmental determinants of type 1 and type 2 diabetes risk and progression, as well as complications. The participants debated how to determine appropriate therapeutic approaches based on disease pathophysiology and stage and defined remaining research gaps hindering a personalized medical approach for diabetes to drive the field to address these gaps. The authors recommend a structure for data stratification to define the phenotypes and genotypes of subtypes of diabetes that will facilitate individualized treatment.