Abstract
Purpose :
Uveitis is a disease that significantly affects the quality of life of individuals. Currently, Tubercular uveitis (TBU) is a diagnostic challenge due to the similar clinical features to other causes; also, molecular mechanisms have not been fully elucidated. Most proteomic studies in TBU have been conducted in the vitreous humor. Due to that, we aim to evaluate the proteomic profile in tears and serum of patients with TBU and Non-Tubercular Uveitis (NTBU) to identify new biomarkers to diagnose it and differentiate.
Methods :
Serum and tear samples were collected from patients diagnosed with TBU (Group A had 10 patients) characterized by clinical signs and positive IGRA+ tests, and from patients with NTBU (Group B had 13 patients). Blood samples were obtained before the anti-tuberculosis treatment, and the tear test was collected in Schirmer strips. These samples were analyzed using a Tandem Mass Tag (TMT)-based quantitative Mass Spectrometry (MS) approach. The generated raw data was processed using Proteome Discoverer software version 2.2 (Thermo Fisher Scientific).
Results :
In the study of 23 patients, 69% were women, with no significant differences between the groups. Regarding age, the average was 47.6 years (SD 15.3), with no notable differences between the groups. The primary anatomical location of uveitis was posterior, followed by anterior, consistent in both groups. Through TMT-based MS analysis, approximately 2000 proteins in tears and 1800 in serum were identified and quantified. Serum proteome analysis indicated that 79 proteins were significantly up-regulated in Group A, while 51 proteins were up-regulated in Group B, each with a P-value <0.05. In the tear proteome, analysis showed 84 proteins significantly up-regulated in Group A and 54 in Group B, with a Fold Change (FC) >1.3 and P-value <0.05. Heat map analysis of protein fold changes effectively distinguished between the two groups, highlighting 36 proteins.
Conclusions :
For the first time in patients with TBU, an analysis of serum and tear proteins has been conducted, finding that the proteomic analyses revealed proteins associated with TBU and NTBU patients. These findings could potentially identify tear and serum protein biomarkers for differentiating between TBU and NTBU patients.
This abstract was presented at the 2024 ARVO Annual Meeting, held in Seattle, WA, May 5-9, 2024.