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Immunology of Clinical and Experimental Diabetes pp 249–270Cite as

Antibodies to Insulin and Insulin Receptors: Mechanisms of Insulin Resistance

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Abstract

Insulin resistance is said to exist whenever normal concentrations of insulin produce a less-than-normal biological response (Kahn, 1978). In humans, insulin resistance is usually defined by the presence of hyperinsulinemia in the face of normal or elevated blood sugar or by resistance to exogenous insulin. Insulin resistance may occur in a large number of different disease states. The most frequent causes of mild to moderate insulin resistance are obesity and maturity-onset, insulin-independent diabetes (Olefsky, 1981). This chapter will consider two of the rare forms of insulin resistance: the syndrome of insulin resistance due to antireceptor antibodies and insulin resistance due to insulin antibodies. In both of these the patients are severely insulin-resistant and frequently fail to respond to 10 or even 1000 times or more the normal therapeutic dose of insulin.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Joslin Diabetes Center, and Department of Medicine, Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts, 02115, USA

    C. Ronald Kahn

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  1. C. Ronald Kahn
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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Division of Basic and Clinical Immunology, Department of Medicine, University of California, Irvine, 92717, Irvine, California, USA

    Sudhir Gupta M.D., F.R.C.P.(C), F.A.C.P.

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© 1984 Plenum Publishing Corporation

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Kahn, C.R. (1984). Antibodies to Insulin and Insulin Receptors: Mechanisms of Insulin Resistance. In: Gupta, S. (eds) Immunology of Clinical and Experimental Diabetes. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4684-4559-6_8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4684-4559-6_8

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Boston, MA

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