[T lymphocyte subsets in aqueous humor from patients with uveitis]

We studied T lymphocyte subsets in the aqueous humor (AH) and peripheral blood (PB) from patients with active uveitis using three-color flow cytometry. We assessed the number of T lymphocyte subsets that stained with fluorescence-conjugated anti-CD3, CD4, CD8, CD29, CD45RA, CD45RO, and HLA (human leukocyte antigen)-DR monoclonal antibodies in the AH and PB from 32 patients: 9 with sarcoidosis (SAR), 6 with Vogt-Koyanagi-Harade disease (VKH), 4 with HLA-B27+ uveitis, 2 with Behçet's disease, 2 with diabetic iritis, 9 with idiopathic uveitis, and 10 healthy control subjects. The percentage of CD3+ lymphocytes was significantly higher in uveitic AH than in PB. The percentage of CD4+ lymphocytes was significantly higher in uveitic AH than in PB in SAR. While the percentage of CD4+CD45RA+ (naive) cells within T cells was much lower in uveitic AH than in PB, the percentage of CD4+CD29+ or CD4+CD45RO+ (memory) cells was significantly higher. There was no significant difference in these subsets in PB between patients and controls. The results suggest that an increase in the number of activated memory T lymphocytes in AH is involved in the pathogenesis of uveitis.