Altered suppressor-cell activities in uveitis.

Suppressor-cell function was evaluated by two in-vitro assay systems in forty patients with intraocular inflammatory disease (uveitis) and in sixteen healthy age-matched controls. A concanavalin-A (Con A)-induced suppressor-cell assay showed that patients with posterior uveitic conditions had greater suppressor activity than did the anterior uveitic group or the control group (p < 0.005); but an assay for non-induced suppressor-cell activity showed that the posterior uveitic group had less suppressor activity (p < 0.001). These findings suggest (a) that at least two cell types may be involved in immunoregulation, and (b) that not all diseases of presumed autoimmune origin are the result of reduced suppressor activity, which has been shown in some "autoimmune" conditions.