title: Cellular immune function of patients with retinitis pigmentosa.
abstract: Although initial investigations of peripheral blood lymphocytes (PBL) from patients with retinitis pigmentosa (RP) demonstrated a reduced percentage of Leu-4 positive (pan-T) lymphocytes, the authors recently determined that the absolute number of Leu-4 positive cells per milliliter of blood is normal. This investigation studied the production of the lymphokines gamma-interferon (gamma-IFN) and interleukin-2 (IL-2) in cultures of concanavalin-A stimulated PBL. The difference in the mean production of gamma-IFN or IL-2 by PBL from 33 RP patients versus PBL from 16 controls did not achieve statistical significance at P less than 0.05. Overall, the data did not demonstrate significant cellular immune abnormalities in patients with RP.
authors.forename: R L
authors.initials: RL
authors.lastname: Hendricks
authors.forename: G A
authors.initials: GA
authors.lastname: Fishman
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007111:Immunity, Cellular; D007371:Interferon-gamma / Q000276:immunology; D007376:Interleukin-2 / Q000276:immunology; D007694:Killer Cells, Natural / Q000276:immunology; D007958:Leukocyte Count; D008222:Lymphokines / Q000276:immunology; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012174:Retinitis Pigmentosa / Q000276:immunology*; D013601:T-Lymphocytes / Q000276:immunology
chemical_list: D007376:Interleukin-2; D008222:Lymphokines; D007371:Interferon-gamma