Patients with types I, II, and pancreatogenic diabetes mellitus were examined for the counts of T precursor cells using autorosette formation test in the presence of t-activin, an activator of T lymphocyte differentiation. The counts of T lymphocyte precursors in patients with type II and pancreatogenic diabetes were virtually the same as in normal subjects. Disorders of cellular immunity in type I diabetes mellitus were found to be associated with depletion of pre-T-lymphocytes. These changes were the most manifest in the decompensation phase (ketoacidosis state). The results may be useful in development of immunomodulating therapy for type I diabetes and in prediction of the disease development in subjects predisposed to it.

Quantitative and functional parameters of the monocyte and В-cell immunity were assessed in patients with insulin-dependent diabetes over the course of disease. Studies of the monocyte component in subjects predisposed to disease and of the humoral one in those with clinical manifestations are valuable for predicting the autoimmune process. Signs predicting a poor outcome are increase of the count of Fc-positive cells, decrease of NBT reduction of monocytes in subjects without signs of the disease, high levels of immunoglobulin G in manifest disease, and increase of IgM and B-lymphopcyte count and decrease of IgA over the course of the disease.

Analysis of clinical features of type I diabetes mellitus and of the status of health services using the chart of Diabcare, an All-European Program, demonstrated that the system of following up such patients is to be altered. The infrastructure of medicare is to be changed, schools are to be set up for training diabetics, diabetological centers organized, patients be provided for with means of automonitoring, and insulin supply be stable.