Immunological studies on Behçet's and Harada's diseases. I. Cell-mediated immunity in Behçet's and Harada's diseases. II. HL-A antigens associated with Behçet's disease.

Behçet's and Harada's diseases were studied for cell-mediated immunity, utilizing leukocyte migration inhibition test (agarose droplet method). Patients with Behçet's disease during an attack showed cellular hypersensitivity to their aqueous humor, vitreous humor, and synovial fluid, but not to the normal tissue extracts of humans, such as oral mucous membrane, skin, retina and uvea, nor to their peripheral blood leukocytes. The patients with Harada's disease, in whom uveitis was recurrent and depigmentation present in various parts of the body, showed cellular hypersensitivity to bovine uveal extract. It is probably that in Behçet's disease cellular hypersensitivity is the result of inflammatory processes rather than being an important pathogenic mechanism, whereas in Harada's disease it is implicated in the pathogenesis of the disease process.