An investigation into cytotoxic mechanisms in type I diabetes mellitus.

T- and K-cell cytotoxic activity has been measured in groups of type I diabetic patients and comparable groups of healthy control subjects. The mean cytotoxic indices for T-cell activity were 0.72 for 13 type I diabetics and -2.38 for a control group. These values are not significantly different. K-cell cytotoxic activity was measured using both chicken red blood cells and Chang liver cells coated with appropriate xenogenic antibodies. Using the chicken red blood cell system the percentage specific chromium release was 55.3 for 17 type I diabetics and 50.0 for a control group. These values are not significantly different. Using the chicken red blood cell system the percentage specific chromium release was 55.3 for 17 type I diabetics and 50.0 for a control group. These values are not significantly different. Using the Chang liver cell system the percentage specific chromium release was 13.9 for 37 type I diabetics and 9.7 for a control group. This difference is statistically significant (p less than 0.05).