We determined the T-cell responses against botulinum neurotoxin type A (BoNT/A) and tetanus toxin (TeNT) of peripheral blood lymphocytes from 95 BoNT-treated patients and 63 non-treated control subjects. The patient group included 80 cervical dystonia and 15 other movement disorder cases. Positive T-cell responses to BoNT/A were detected in 70% of the treated patients, and in only 3% of controls. T-cell responses of BoNT-treated patients against BoNT/A did not differ between patients who were clinically responsive and those who had become non-responsive to the treatment. BoNT-treated patients gave significantly higher in vitro T-cell responses to TeNT than did the controls.
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