Class II major histocompatibility complex on melanocytes of Vogt-Koyanagi-Harada disease
T. Sakamoto, T. Murata and H. Inomata
Department of Ophthalmology, Faculty of Medicine, Kyushu University, Fukuoka, Japan.
The eyes obtained from two Japanese autopsy cases of patients with
Vogt-Koyanagi-Harada disease were immunohistochemically examined. Both
patients, a 63-year-old woman and a 68-year-old man, were clinically and
histologically diagnosed as having Vogt-Koyanagi-Harada disease.
Immunohistochemically, the choroidal infiltrate was composed predominantly
of T lymphocytes with a larger proportion of helper/inducer T cells than
suppressor/cytotoxic T cells and it also included activated lymphocytes
expressing CD26 and CD25 antigens. Class II major histocompatibility
complex was expressed in the choroidal melanocytes as well as in the
endothelium of the choriocapillaris. Depositions of complement, however,
were focally noticed in the choroid. Our results indicate that the
cell-mediated immune process plays an important role in the development and
progression of Vogt-Koyanagi-Harada disease, while choroidal melanocytes
appear to play a pathogenic role in this disease.
