Reactivity of human preformed natural antibodies with various porcine pancreatic cells.

The reactivity of human preformed natural antibodies (PNAbs) with various porcine pancreatic cells and its isotypes was investigated. Eighteen serum samples from patients with insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus (IDDM) and 20 serum samples from healthy human subjects were collected. The frozen sections of the pig pancreas were incubated with these sera, and subsequently incubated with FITC-conjugated goat antihuman IgG and IgM monoclonal antibodies. The reactivity of human PNAbs with various porcine pancreatic cells was determined by indirect immunofluorescence staining technique. The results showed that 55.6% of IDDM patients and 55.0% of healthy human individuals contained PNAbs against porcine endocrine cells. However, the percentage of strongly reacting sera in the patient group was significantly increased as compared with that in the control group. All used sera from IDDM patients and 95% of sera from healthy controls could react to one or more of the various pancreatic cell types, including: endocrine cells, exocrine cells, vascular endothelial cells, ductal epithelial cells and macrophages. The isotypes of PNAbs contained both IgG and IgM. In view of strongly positive reactivity of PNAbs with various porcine pancreatic cells, pretransplantly cross-matching test and graft pretreatment may be necessary for survival of islet transplants.