PURPOSE: The aim of the study was to describe the clinical features and characteristics of optic neuritis patients compared with those of patients enrolled in the Optic Neuritis Treatment Trial (ONTT). METHODS: We retrospectively included consecutive patients diagnosed with optic neuritis between 2006 and 2015. The inclusion criteria were the same as those of the ONTT; an acute or subacute unilateral visual symptom ≤8 days in duration, a relative afferent pupillary defect, and a visual field defect in the affected eye. RESULTS: The 41 patients (14 females, 27 males) were of mean age 32.7 years. The incidence of papilledema was 58.5%, thus higher than that of ONTT patients (p = 0.004), and the incidence of ocular pain was 75.6%, lower than that of ONTT patients (p = 0.002). Six months after intravenous methylprednisolone therapy, 29 of 32 eyes (90.6%) recovered visual acuity of ≥1.0 or better, and only one eye exhibited poor visual acuity (≤0.5). Orbital magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) was performed on 34 patients, and most (91.2%) exhibited optic nerve enhancement. The three patients who did not exhibit enhancement reported no pain. CONCLUSIONS: The clinical features of Korean optic neuritis patients differed from those of patients of the ONTT. Most patients exhibited optic nerve MRI enhancement associated with ocular pain. If enhancement of the optic nerve is lacking, diseases other than optic neuritis should be suspected because most optic nerves with neuritis exhibit enhancement on MRI.
Adult ; Female ; Humans ; Incidence ; Magnetic Resonance Imaging ; Methylprednisolone ; Neuritis ; Optic Nerve ; Optic Neuritis ; Orbit ; Papilledema ; Pupil Disorders ; Retrospective Studies ; Visual Acuity ; Visual Fields

Purpose: We investigated the role of CD8+ T cells as host immune factors in pediatric patients with Helicobacter pylori gastritis. Methods: Gastric mucosal tissue and blood samples were collected from 39 children, including 11 children with H. pylori infection and 28 children as controls. Anti-CD8 and anti-T-bet antibodies were used for immunohistochemistry of the gastric mucosa. For the cell surface and intracellular staining, peripheral blood mononuclear cells were stained with anti-IL7Rα, anti-CX3CR1, anti-CD8, anti-T-bet, and anti-IFN-γ antibodies. Cytokines of sera such as tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-α) and CX3CL1 were analyzed using enzyme- linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). Results: In the immunohistochemistry of gastric mucosa, the frequency of CD8+ and T-bet+ T cells cells was higher in the H. pylori-positive group than in the control group (26.9± 7.8% vs. 16.9±3.3%, p<0.001; 5.0±2.5% vs. 2.2±0.7%, p=0.001). Between the control and H. pylori-positive groups, the frequency of IL-7RαlowCX3CR1+ CD8+ and T-bet+ INF-γ+ CD8+ T cells were not significantly different between surface and intracellular staining, respectively (40.4±24.0% vs. 38.2±17.8%, p=0.914; 40.4±24.0% vs. 38.2±17.8%, p=0.914). In the ELISA, no significant differences in TNF-α and CX3CL1 concentrations were observed between the control and H. pylori-positive groups (34.3±12.1 pg/mL vs. 47.0±22.6 pg/mL, p=0.114/0.5± 0.1 pg/mL vs. 0.5±0.1 pg/mL, p=0.188). Conclusion CD8+ T and Th1 cells, which secrete IFN-γ, might play important roles in the mucosal immunity of the stomach in children with H. pylori infection.