Abnormal naive and memory T lymphocyte subsets in the peripheral blood of patients with uveitis

Abstract

PURPOSE. To better define the role of lymphocytes in the pathogenesis of uveitis, we studied the expression of memory and naive cell markers on T lymphocytes from peripheral blood. METHODS. Surface antigens on T lymphocytes obtained from peripheral blood of 27 patients with uveitis, including 12 patients with Behçet's disease (BD), 7 patients with Vogt-Koyanagi-Harada disease (VKH), and 8 patients with idiopathic uveitis (IU), were detected by three-color flow cytometric analysis. Lymphocytes from 14 age-matched healthy control subjects were similarly evaluated. RESULTS. The percentage of T lymphocytes that were CD4 + CD29 + lymphocytes (memory cells) was high in all patients with uveitis, while that of CD4 + CD45RA + lymphocytes (naive cells) was lower in patients with BD and VKH, although the difference was not statistically significant. The percentage of CD29 + cells within CD3 + CD4 + cell population was significantly higher in patients with BD and VKH than in the controls (p < 0.01), and the percentage of CD45RA + cells was significantly lower in BD patients than in controls (p < 0.01). The T lymphocyte subsets in patients with IU were similar to the controls. CONCLUSIONS. These results show an abnormal distribution of T lymphocytes in patients with uveitis associated with an underlying systemic disease.