[Humoral and cellular immune responses to retinal S-antigen in uveitis patients]

Humoral and cellular immune responses to purified S-Ag were determined in 73 patients with anterior-, intermediate- and pan-uveitis and in 55 healthy subjects by ELISA and leucocyte migration inhibition test. The positive rates of humoral immune response to S-Ag in patients and controls were comparable; however, the positive rate of cellular immune response to S-Ag in the patients (54.6%) was significantly higher than that in the controls (3.3%), and that in pan-uveitis patients (69.4%) was significantly higher than in patients with anterior uveitis (15.4%), highly suggesting that the cellular immune response to S-Ag was involved in the onset of uveitis, especially when the choroid and retina were affected. The breakdown of anterior chamber associated immune deviation and abnormal expression of intraocular MHC-II antigens may contribute to the development of cellular immune response. More studies are needed.