Abstract
Purpose:
It is known that IL-17 has an important role in autoimmune processes. We did not found studies that relate levels of IL-17 in HLA-B27 associated uveitis patients. So the purpose of this study was to measure IL-17 levels in tear and serum of patients with HLA-B27 associated uveitis and compare them with healthy donors.
Methods:
An observational, analytical, transversal and comparative study was performed. Male and female adults with HLA-B27 associated uveitis and healthy donors were included. Patients were divided in groups according to presence/absence of inflammatory activity and type of treatment (no treatment, topical treatment and systemic treatment independet of topical tratment). IL-17 was measured in tears and serum of patients and healthy donors by ELISA (R&D systems). IL-17 levels obtained from each group were compared with control group. A non paired t test was used to compare the groups (GraphpadPrism v.5.0 software). A value of p<0.05 was considered statistically significant.
Results:
Twenty-three tear and 21 serum samples of 22 patients were obtained from the HLA-B27 associated uveitis group, and 9 tear and 9 serum samples from the control group. In the HLA-B27 associated uveitis group, the average age was 42±13years, 13 patients (59%) were female; 8eyes (35%) with no activity, 15eyes (65%) with activity, 1(4.3%) with no treatment, 12(52%) with topical treatment and 10eyes (43.5%) with systemic treatment were included. In the control group, the average age was 28±3 years, 6 patients(67%) were female. There was a statistical significant difference between the control (20.89±1.01pg/mL) and active patients (25.07±1.35pg/mL) (p<0.05). Also, there was a difference between the control (20.89±1.01pg/mL) and patients with topical treatment (25.27±1.56pg/mL) (p<0.05). There was no difference between control group vs non active neither patients with systemic treatment. It wasn’t possible to compare the no treatment group. The IL17 levels in serum were lower than limit detection in all participants.
Conclusions:
IL-17 levels are increased during inflammatory activity. Systemic treatment reduces tear IL-17 to normal levels, but topical treatment does not. HLA-B27 associated uveitis is probably mediated by Th17 response, larger studies are needed in order to confirm this hypothesis.