Immunoglobulins and antinuclear antibodies in aqueous humour from patients with juvenile "rheumatoid" arthritis (Still's disease).

Aqueous humour and blood from twenty cataractous patients with chronic anterior uveitis and the monopauciarticular form of juvenile rheumatoid arthritis were tested for immunoglobulins G, A, and M and for autoantibodies, particularly those against nuclear antigens. The aqueous immunoglobulins were raised in the majority of patients even when the eyes were normal biomicroscopically. Raised IgG antinuclear antibodies were found in 85% of the aqueous samples. Information obtained from the study of aqueous humour from fourteen patients with senile cataract was used for statistical analysis of these data. The presence of high molecular weight immunoglobulins in the aqueous humour from patients with Still's disease suggests an abnormal blood-ocular barrier which may be responsible for the recurrence which follows an ostensibly treated primary attack of uveitis. The presence of antinuclear antibody in a few aqueous samples without a concomitant rise in the blood levels is suggestive of local antibody synthesis.