Acta Chirurgica 17. (1976)
1. szám - I. Pápai–J. Lehrner: Lymphocyte-Dependent Antibodies in Uveitis
Acta Chirurgica Academiae Scientiarurn Hungaricae, Tomus 17 ( 1), pp. 11 — 16 (1976) Lymphocyte-Dependent Antibodies in Uveitis By Ibolya Pápai and Judit Le h kn kr Department of Ophthalmology, University Medical School, Szeged (Received July 20, 1974) Lymphocyte-dependent antibodies were revealed in the serum of patients suffering from uveitis of various aetiologies. The serum was incubated with normal uveal tissue and the binding of non-immune human lymphocytes was investigated. In three cases of sympathetic ophthalmitis the lymphocytes accumulated around the melanine granules, while in another 17 patients with uveitis cases the lymphocytes accumulated around the capillaries. Uveal tissue incubated with control sera failed to bound lymphocytes. The lymphocytic infiltration in certain cases of chronic uveitis suggested the role of lymphocyte-mediating antibodies in the aetiology of these cases. An infective aetiology can be proved in a minor part of the cases of uveitis only and the role of infection is seldom decisive. In the majority of cases, hypersensitivity dominates. This is usually directed against the infective component of the process, while in other cases there is an auto-immune process acting against the lenticular or uveal antigens (10). For instance, “phacotoxic” uveitis and sympathetic ophthalmitis giving an immune response to the uveal pigments belong into the second group (9). The penetration and incorporation of lymphocytes into the uveal tissue indicates the role of an antibody which, if bound to normal lymphocytes, links the latter to the antigenic sites of the uvea (Fakhri and Hobbs [5]), extending thereby the classification of allergic reactions suggested by Gell and Coombs (6). In the present work the target-structures, the degree and, if possible, the cause, of lymphocytic infiltration in endogenous uveitis has been studied. Materials and Methods Cryostat sections of normal human cadaver irises were placed on slides to serve as binding sites. The lymphocytes were isolated from heparinized normal human Group 0 blood according to Szabó et al. [12]; 1.0 ml of the blood was placed into a tube containing 400 mg of cotton wool, and was allowed to stand for 30 minutes to promote the adherence of granulocytes to the cotton fibres. Next, the column was washed with 30 ml of Parker’s TC-I99 medium, to the washed suspension a 3% gelatin solution was added in 1/3 volume and allowed to settle for one hour during which time the bulk of erythrocytes had sedimented. The supernatant was centrifuged at 500 r.p.m. for 10 minutes and washed three times with Parker’s TC-199 solution. After the second washing, 4 ml of distilled water was added for 20 sec to remove the residual erythrocytes. After centrifuging the sedi- Acta Chirurgica Academiae Scientiarurn Hungaricae 17, 1976