[Effects of interleukin-2 on experimental uveitis and pinealitis]

Interleukin-2 (IL-2) was injected intraperitoneally into Lewis rats immunized with interphotoreceptor retinoid-binding protein (IRBP) to study its effect on the development of experimental autoimmune uveoretinitis (EAU) and experimental autoimmune pinealitis (EAP) and on the immune response. It was found that the EAU and the EAP were significantly intensified by IL-2, and the peak of serum anti-IRBP antibody appeared on the 7th day after immunization while that in the controls on the 26th day. These results, together with those previously documented that the development, severity and subsidence of EAU depended on the level of IL-2, tend to support the authors' hypothesis that excessively elevated IL-2 enhances the development and recurrence of human uveoretinitis.