[Studies on HLA-B27 and T-cell subsets in patients with endogenous anterior uveitis]

37 (37%) of 100 patients with anterior uveitis were found HLA-B27 positive (5.3% in the normal controls); 35 (94.6%) of the 37 cases were nongranulomatous and 78.0% were associated with various types of arthritis. T-cell subsets in periphery circulation were evaluated in 47 anterior uveitis patients and 18 controls by means of monoclonal antibodies. Patients with active anterior uveitis had less OKT3+ cells than patients in the inactive phase; there were more OKT4+ and OKT8+ cells in patients in the active phase than in the controls, and particularly the OKT8+ cells were more than in patients of the inactive phase. The mean OKT4+/OKT8+ ratio was not significantly different from that of the controls; however, values of the OKT4+/OKT8+ ratio were abnormal in some patients, and there were more cases with lower ratio values in the active than in the inactive patients.