Abnormalities in humoral and cellular immune activity in pancreatitis. I. Study of the humoral immune system.

The abnormalities of the humoral immune phenomena in pancreatitis may be summarized on the grounds of published evidence and of the present results as follows: 1. Circulating anti-pancreas antibodies are present in acute pancreatitis as also after its cure, and in chronic pancreatitis. 2. The appearance of soluble immune complexes in pathological amounts was demonstrated in the sera of the patients by radiobioassay in acute pancreatitis of identified aetiology 3 to 4 weeks after onset. On the evidence of follow-up studies over 1 to 8 months the immune complexes were found to persist at increased levels after complete cure of acute pancreatitis. Soluble immune complexes were demonstrable in pathological amounts in the cases of chronic pancreatitis as well. 3. In acute pancreatitis the total serum complement titres decline fast and after a few weeks persistent hypocomplementaemia develops in a number of cases. 4. The possible role of circulating soluble immune complexes and of the complement system in pancreatitis is discussed, and it is suggested on the grounds of the present data that acute pancreatitis is associated with a specific and nonspecific immune sensitization, still demonstrable in a number of cases after a few months.