Table Of ContentMonographs on Endocrinology
Volume 6
Edited by
F. Gross, Heidelberg· A. Labhart, Zurich
T. Mann, Cambridge· L. T. Samuels, Salt Lake City
J.
Zander, Munchen
K. Federlin
Immunopathology of
Insulin
Clinical and Experimental Studies
With 53 Figures
Springer-Verlag Berlin· Heidelberg· New York 1971
Privatdozent Dr. KONRAD FEDERLIN
Wissenschaftlicher Rat
Universitat VIm
Medizinisch-N aturwissenschaftliche Hochschule
Zentrum fur Innere Medizin und KinderheiIkunde
VIm/Donau
ISBN -13:978-3 -642-80610-0 e-ISBN-13:978-3 -642-80608-7
DOl: 10.1007/978-3-642-80608-7
This work is subject to copyright. All rights are reserved, whether the whole or part of the material
is concerned, specifically those of translation, reprinting, re-use of illustrations, broadcasting, repro-
duction by photocopying machine or similar means, and storage in data banks.
Under § 54 of the German Copyright Law, where copies are made for other than private use, a fee is
payable to the publisher, the amount of the fee to be determined by agreement with the publisher.
The use of general descriptive names, trade names, trade marks etc. in this publication, even if the
former are not especially identified, is not to be taken as a sign that sum names, as understood by
the Trade Marks and Merchandise Marks Act, may accordingly be used freely by anyone.
© by Springer-Verlag Berlin· Heidelberg 1971. Library of Congress Catalog Card Number 71-154799.
Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1s t edition 1971
K. Federlin
Immunopathology of
Insulin
Clinical and Experimental Studies
With 53 Figures
Springer-Verlag New York· Heidelberg· Berlin 1971
Privatdozent Dr. KONRAD FEDERLIN
Wissenschaftlicher Rat
Vniversitat VIm
Medizinisch-N aturwissenschaftliche Hochschule
Zentrum fur Innere Medizin und Kinderheilkunde
Vlm/Donau
ISBN-13:978-3-642-80610-0 e-ISBN-13:978-3-642-80608-7
DOl: 10.1007/978-3-642-80608-7
This work is subject to copyright. All rights are reserved, whether the whole or part of the material
is concerned, specifically those of translation, reprinting, re-use of illustrations, broadcasting, repro-
duction by photocopying machine or similar means, and storage in data banks.
Under § 54 of the German Copyright Law, where copies are made for other than private use, a fee is
payable to the publisher, the amount of the fee to be determined by agreement with the publisher.
The use of general descriptive names, trade names, trade marks etc. in this publication, even if the
former are not especially identified, is not to be taken as a sign that such names, as understood by
the Trade Marks and Merchandise Marks Act, may accordingly be used freely by anyone.
© by Springer-Verlag Berlin· Heidelberg 1971. Library of Congress Catalog Card Number 71-154799.
Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1s t edition 1971
K. Federlin
Immunopathology of
Insulin
Clinical and Experimental Studies
With 53 Figures
1971
William Heinemann Medical Books Ltd., London
Springer-Verlag Berlin' Heidelberg· New York
Privatdozent Dr. KONRAD FEDERLIN
Wissenschaftlicher Rat
Vniversitat VIm
Medizinisch-N a turwissenschaftliche Hochschule
Zentrum fur Innere Medizin und Kinderheilkunde
Ulm/Donau
ISBN-13:978-3-642-80610-0 e-ISBN-13:978-3 -642-80608-7
DOl: 10.1007/978-3-642-80608-7
This work is subject to copyright. All rights are reserved, whether the whole or part of the material
is concerned, specifically those of translation, reprinting, re-use of illustrations, broadcasting, repro-
duction by photocopying machine or similar means, and storage in data banks.
Under § 54 of the German Copyright Law, where copies are made for other than private use, a fee is
payable to the publisher, the amount of the fee to be determined by agreement with the publisher.
The use of general descriptive names, trade names, trade marks etc. in this publication, even if the
former ate not especially identified, is not to be taken as a sign that such names, as understood by
the Trade Marks and Merchandise Marks Act, may accordingly be used freely by anyone.
© by Springer-Verlag Berlin· Heidelberg 1971. Library of Congress Catalog Card Number 71-154799.
Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1s t edition 1971
Dedicated
to
my wife and my children
Preface
Soon after the discovery of insulin in 1922, it became clear that
the use of this hormone in the treatment of diabetics is often accom
panied by allergy. In 1956 it became possible to determine quantita
tively the insulin-binding antibodies which are responsible for the
resistance to insulin. The methods developed since then make it
possible to measure minute amounts of the pancreatic hormone in
blood and extracellular fluids.
There have been many attempts to relate insulin allergy and in
sulin resistance to the primary, secondary or tertiary structure of the
A or B chains, or both, and more recently, to the proinsulin which is
present in all commercial preparations of insulin, i. e. to the species
specific structure of the C peptide. In the great majority of papers
dealing either with the immunogenic and antigenic properties of in
sulin or with the relevant antibodies, the discussion has been restricted
to the humoral antibodies. The existence of a brief period of delayed
local allergy resulting from the cellular immune response has more or
less escaped attention.
It is specifically this period of delayed allergy that attracted the
interest of Dr. FEDERLIN and his colleagues. Making use of immuno
histological and other techniques which are rarely employed in clinical
observation, and with the help of experiments on animals, Dr. FEDERLIN
traces the course of insulin allergy from cellular immunity, through
the production of humoral antibodies by the insulin-binding cells of
the circulation, to the sessile immunological apparatus.
It remains to be seen whether the problems of insulin allergy can
be resolved by improvements in the preparation of insulin, involving
either the synthesis of human insulin or further purification of the
hormone from animal material. In the meantime, this monograph
VIII Preface
provides a convincing demonstration of the value of clinical observa
tions when these are reinforced by modern laboratory techniques.
Dr. FEDERLIN is to be congratulated on a brilliant contribution to a
problem which is of interest to endocrinologists and diabetologists
alike, as well as to immunologists.
VIm, April 1971 E. F. PFEIFFER
Description:Soon after the discovery of insulin in 1922, it became clear that the use of this hormone in the treatment of diabetics is often accom panied by allergy. In 1956 it became possible to determine quantita tively the insulin-binding antibodies which are responsible for the resistance to insulin. Th
