Abstract
Purpose: :
To study the impact of soluble IL2 receptor (sIL2R) and angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) in screening uveitis patients for sarcoidosis.
Methods: :
Serum concentrations of sIL2R and ACE were measured in patients with active uveitis using ELISA. Those with elevated sIL2R and /or ACE values were examined for suspected pulmonary sarcoidosis.
Results: :
We screened 461 patients with uveitis for sarcoidosis using sIL2R and ACE between January 2008 and November 2010; sarcoidosis had been diagnosed using other tests (e.g. computer tomography, brochoalveolar lavage, biopsy) in 17 of 19 patients with elevated sIL2R values (>639 U/ml). All of those 17 patients had clinically relevant or subclinical pulmonary sarcoidosis. Their mean sIL2R value was 1478 with a range from 646 to 8659 U/ml.Only 6 of the 19 patients, however, presented elevated ACE (>82 U/l). Their mean ACE value was 67.8 U/l, ranging from 17.4 to 146.7 U/l.The entire spectrum of uveitis was affected: four patients suffered from anterior, 4 from intermediate, 5 from posterior, 3 from panuveitis and one from peripapillitis.
Conclusions: :
An elevated level of soluble IL2R suggests ocular sarcoidosis and pulmonary sarcoidosis more convincingly than ACE, making sIL2R a more effective screening parameter for ocular sarcoidois than ACE in uveitis patients.
Keywords: uveitis-clinical/animal model • clinical laboratory testing • cytokines/chemokines