Comparison of human and porcine insulin therapies in children with newly diagnosed diabetes mellitus

Summary A multicenter, longitudinal study of children below the age of 16 years with newly diagnosed Type 1 (insulin-dependent) diabetes treated either with porcine monocomponent insulin (n=26) or semisynthetic human monocomponent insulin (n=26) was performed during the first 24 months after onset of diabetes. The two groups were carefully matched for age, duration of disease symptoms, initial metabolic values, islet cell antibodies and HLA-DR antigens. During the 24-month observation period there was no significant difference between the two groups in respect to the clinical course, insulin dosage, HbA₁ and residual B-cell activity. No child in either group had a real remission without necessitating insulin therapy. The prevalence of insulin antibodies increased slowly and was 62% in the group treated by human insulin and 52% in the porcine insulin-treated group after 24 months. The titres were generally low and there was no statistical difference between the two groups in respect to insulin antibody formation.