Antibody-mediated complement-dependent cytotoxicity in immunologically induced experimental colon disease.

Rabbits immunized with a saline extract of intestinal tissue in complete Freund's adjuvant produce antibody which mediates complement-dependent cytotoxicity for colon epithelial cells in vitro. The presence of this antibody did not correlate with histologic alterations of the colon in the immunized rabbits. This suggests that antibody-mediated complement-dependent cytotoxicity may not be a factor in the pathogenesis of experimentally induced immunologically mediated colon disease.