[Systemic autoantibodies and their correction in patients with diabetic retinopathy in type 1 diabetes mellitus].

Examination of 91 patients with diabetic retinopathy in the presence of type I diabetes mellitus (DM-1) showed that 56% of the patients had a great variety of organ-specific and organ-nonspecific autoantibodies (AABs), including those to the microsomal and cytoplasmic fractions of endocrine glands, such as pancreas, thyroid, and pituitary. AABs were most common to the pituitary (23.2%), total myelin protein (18.7%), and denatured DNA (17.6%). There were correlations between AAB and the duration of DM-1 more than 20 years (78.3%; p < 0.05), between the total myelin protein AAB and encephalopathy (31.3%; p < 0.05), between the denatured DNA AAB and the increased retinal vascular permeability (29.3%; p < 0.05), which suggests their implication in vascular wall disintegration. No correlations could be found between AAB to the pituitary, pancreas, and thyroid and obvious pathology of the glands. Combined therapy with the immunomodulators thymactid and lycopide yielded a total beneficial effect (AAB disappearance, decreased titers, and no changes) in 88.3% of case while beneficial effect of insulin therapy was obtained in 53.9% of cases, which suggests that it is expedient to include of currently available immunomodulators into traditional insulin therapy.