Cellular immunity abnormalities in patients with recurrent Bell's palsy.
Recurrent Bell's palsy is a rare form of facial paralysis. To investigate the role which cellular immunity plays in the aetiology of recurrent Bell's palsy, we evaluated a series of such patients using a laboratory test specially formulated to test the cellular immune system. We measured T-lymphocyte and T-lymphocyte subsets in the peripheral blood of 10 recurrent Bell's palsy patients and in 30 healthy volunteers. T-lymphocytes and T-lymphocyte subsets were reduced significantly in the patients, but the T-helper: T-cytotoxic ratio was normal. Cellular immunity abnormalities were therefore found in the peripheral blood of patients with recurrent Bell's palsy, supporting the concept that this is an immunomediated demyelinating disease.
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001327:Autoimmune Diseases / Q000276:immunology; D002648:Child; D003711:Demyelinating Diseases / Q000276:immunology; D005158:Facial Paralysis / Q000276:immunology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012008:Recurrence; D006377:T-Lymphocytes, Helper-Inducer / Q000276:immunology*; D050378:T-Lymphocytes, Regulatory / Q000276:immunology*