NATURAL-KILLER-CELL ACTIVITY AND SERUM IMMUNOGLOBULINS IN EPILEPTIC PATIENTS

Serum immunoglobulins and the activity of natural killer (NK) cells of 50 epileptic patients (eight with idiopathic generalized epilepsy and 42 with cryptogenic partial epilepsy) and 28 controls have been studi ed. The values of IgA, IgG and IgM were the same in patients and contr ols. The NK activity in controls was linearly related to the effector- to-target ratio, but this linear relationship was not observed in epil eptic patients. The cytotoxic activity of NK cells at the lowest effec tor-to-target ratio was significantly greater in patients than in cont rols. This increase was observed in each therapy group. Our results se em to confirm a disturbance of the immune system in epileptic patients and suggest that this modification of cellular immunity is not a drug effect but is related to the illness itself.