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Abstract
Administration of insulin by a variety of routes can prevent the onset of diabetes
and the destruction of pancreatic β-cells in prediabetic animals. Moreover, intensive
insulin therapy improves β-cell function in patients with recent-onset type 1 diabetes.
Preliminary trials have suggested that treatment of high-risk prediabetic patients
with insulin can prevent the onset of diabetes. In addition, long-term insulin treatment
appears to have no significant side-effects in non-diabetics. However, the mechanism
of the protective action of insulin is not yet understood. Several large-scale controlled
trials have been organized (e.g. the Diabetes Prevention Trial 1, DPT-1, and the European
Paediatric Prediabetes Subcutaneous Insulin Trial, EPP-SCIT), to evaluate the effect
of prophylactic insulin therapy in the prevention or delay of diabetes in high-risk
paediatric individuals.