[Activated T cells in the peripheral blood of patients with subacute myelo-optico-neuropathy (SMON)].

It has been reported that some kinds of immunological abnormalities are more frequently seen in patients with subacute myelo-optico-neuropathy (SMON), as compared with normal subjects. In order to examine whether ageing and clioquinol intoxication in the past may be implicated in the immunological disorders of the patients, we investigated soluble interleukin-2 receptors (sIL-2R) and an appearance of HLA-DR positive T cells using two color flow cytometry analysis in the peripheral blood of 29 patients with SMON, who lived in Nagano Prefecture. The mean level of HLA-DR positive T cells in the total of SMON patients was significantly high as compared with that of normal subjects (p < 0.001). The mean levels of HLA-DR positive T cells were also significantly high in SMON patients in their fifties and younger, sixties, and seventies and older, respectively, as compared with those of normal subjects (p < 0.05, respectively). The mean level of sIL-2R in the total of SMON patients was significantly high as compared with that of normal subjects (p < 0.01). The mean levels of sIL-2R were also high in SMON patients in their fifties and younger, sixties, and seventies and older. An especially significant increase was seen in SMON patients in their sixties (p < 0.01). SMON patients with higher levels of HLA-DR positive T cells tended to have higher levels of sIL-2R, and statistical analysis showed a significant correlation between them (r = 0.696, p < 0.001). An increase in HLA-DR positive T cells and sIL-2R indicates an increase in activated T cells.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)