Characterization of phenotype and cytokine profiles of T cell lines derived from vitreous humour in ocular inflammation in man.

Intermediate uveitis (IU) and Fuchs' heterochromic cyclitis (FHC) are two chronic ocular inflammatory disorders. They differ considerably in ocular morbidity, which is higher in IU. T cell lines were derived from the vitreous humour (VH) and peripheral blood (PB) of 10 patients with IU and four patients with FHC. There was a predominance of CD8+ in all the lines. However, there was a significantly higher percentage of CD4+ T cells in the T cell lines derived from VH of IU (32.0 +/- 8.6%) compared with FHC patients (19. 2 +/- 8.9%) (P = 0.04). The VH-derived T cell lines (VDTC) produced significantly higher levels of IL-2, interferon-gamma (IFN-gamma) and IL-10, but not IL-4, compared with PB-derived T cell lines (PBDTC) in both entities. There was significantly higher IL-2 production by VDTC from IU when compared with FHC patients (1810 +/- 220 pg/ml versus 518 +/- 94 pg/ml; P = 0.009), which could account for the more aggressive clinical features of this condition. In contrast IL-10 production was significantly higher by the VDTC from FHC compared with IU patients. The high IL-10 production by T cells infiltrating VH of FHC patients could down-regulate the inflammatory responses, thereby contributing to the benign clinical course seen in these patients. The accumulation of T cells with differing cytokine profiles in the VH suggests an important role for these cytokines in the pathogenesis of these chronic uveitides.