One-dimensional
sodium dodecyl sulphate
polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis of myocardial
proteins followed by Western blotting is a sensitive method for the detection of antiheart
antibodies after
cardiac transplantation. In a previous study we found that the majority of patients made antiheart
antibodies after
cardiac transplantation. It is possible that these
antibodies were formed in response to cardiac damage caused during the
surgical procedure rather than being specific to the
transplantation situation. In this study we have evaluated the role of open cardiac surgery in the formation of antiheart
antibodies for the first 9 months of the postoperative period using the Western blotting technique and correlated that with the development of post-
pericardiotomy syndrome. Only 25% (9/36) of patients showed any increase in the pre-existing level of antiheart
antibodies or developed antiheart
antibodies with new reactivities. None of the patients in the study developed manifestations specific for post-
pericardiotomy syndrome during the period of follow-up. The results support the contention that the high incidence of antiheart
antibodies formed after
cardiac transplantation is due to a humoral immune response to the presence of
alloantigens on the grafted heart rather than as a result of the
surgical procedure itself.