Complement-mediated cytotoxic effects on pancreatic islets with sera from diabetic patients.

Sera from 11/30 patients with juvenile-onset-type diabetes (JOD) had cytotoxic effects on isolated pancreatic islets from hamsters when guinea pig complement was present. The cytotoxic activity could be readily eliminated by heating the guinea pig complement at 56 degrees C for 30 min, thus demonstrating a complement-dependent process. Complement-dependent cytotoxicity toward pancreatic islets was not observed with sera from 11 patients with maturity-onset-type diabetes, 4 nondiabetic hospital patient controls, and 28 healthy adult subjects. The presence of circulating complement-mediated cytotoxic factor(s) toward isolated islets indicates the potential importance of autoimmune pathogenic damage to pancreatic islets in some patients with diabetes.