Humoral immunodeficiency to bacterial antigens in patients with juvenile onset diabetes mellitus.

Humoral immunity to bacterial antigens was tested in 49 tissue typed patients with juvenile onset diabetes mellitus (JOD) and in 50 healthy controls. The number of patients with agglutinins to E. coli and staphylococci was significantly lower compared to controls (p less than 0.001, p less than 0.01 respectively). Missing antibody formation to pertussis and diphtheria toxoid could also be detected in a higher percentage of JOD patients than of controls (p less than 0.05; p congruent to 0.05, respectively). By contrast heteroagglutinins to sheep and rabbit erythrocytes were found in similar proportion in both groups and the values of immunoglobulin serum concentrations showed no difference between patients and controls. In addition no correlation between antibody formation and genes of the HLA complex was found. It is suggested that the severely reduced agglutinin formation to bacteria antigens might be partly responsible for susceptibility to bacterial infections in juvenile diabetics.