Polymorphisms of chemokine and chemokine receptor genes in idiopathic immune-mediated posterior segment uveitis.

PURPOSE: Chemokines are important inflammatory mediators that play a crucial role in uveitis. Polymorphisms in chemokine genes can alter the expression of these genes in the inflammatory cells, which, in turn, can affect the clinical phenotype of the disease. The purpose of this study was to identify polymorphisms in chemokine genes that can predict visual outcome in patients with immune-mediated posterior segment uveitis. METHODS: This is a case-control study of 141 Caucasians with idiopathic immune-mediated posterior segment uveitis and 282 controls matched by age and ethnicity. Six polymorphisms in four genes, (MCP-1-2518A/G, RANTES-403G/A, RANTES-28C/G, CCR2 V64I, CCR5-59029G/A, and CCR5 32 bp deletion) were analyzed by sequence specific primers polymerase chain reaction. RESULTS: Patients with G allele at MCP-1-2581 developed the disease at an early age as compared to patients with A allele corrected p value pc=0.003. Also patients with A allele at RANTES-403 position developed less severe disease and had better visual outcome when compared with patients with G allele (pc=0.02) Final visual acuity after 18 months was better in patients with 32 bp deletion of the CCR5 gene and in patients with the CCR2 wild-type genotype pc=0.02 and pc=0.04, respectively. Patients with the CCR2 64I allele also had a higher risk of developing an elevated intraocular pressure as compared to patients with the wild-type genotype (pc=0.007). CONCLUSIONS: Though the utility for prediction of disease susceptibility of the studied polymorphisms in chemokine genes is in general not robust, we have found that polymorphisms in chemokine genes can influence the outcome of patients with idiopathic immune-mediated posterior segment uveitis. These associations require further analysis in other groups of patients.

TNF-857T, a genetic risk marker for acute anterior uveitis.

PURPOSE: To determine the association between 17 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) of tumor necrosis factor-alpha, lymphotoxin-alpha, and the TNF-receptors genes (TNF, LTA, and TNFRSF1A and -B) and idiopathic acute anterior uveitis (IAU) and to investigate their association with HLA-B27 and/or the development of visually significant complications. METHODS: Ninety-eight white patients in the United Kingdom were identified (by SL) from the uveitis clinics of Moorfields Eye Hospital (London, UK). Sequence-specific primers with 3' end mismatches were used to identify the presence of specific allelic variants by PCR amplification. RESULTS: There was a significant increase in the frequency of the TNF-857T allele in patients with IAU when compared with control subjects (15.3% vs. 7.3%, P = 0.0006). The frequency of haplotype 4, containing the T allele at nucleotide position -857, was also significantly increased in patients with IAU compared with control subjects (15.4% vs. 7.1%, P = 0.0003, OR 2.4, 95% confidence interval 1.4-4.0). In subgroup analysis, there were significant differences in the frequencies of the uncommon TNFRSF1A-201T and TNFRSF1A-1135T alleles between HLA-B27(+) patients with inflammation-related complications and those without complications (80.0% vs. 33.6%, P = 0.006; 80.0% vs. 36.6%, P = 0.01, respectively). CONCLUSIONS: A significant difference in the frequency of TNF-857T allele was found in patients with IAU. There was a trend toward the development of inflammation-related complications in HLA-B27(+) patients with IAU who were carriers of TNFRSF1A-201T or TNFRSF1A-1135T alleles. Genetic variations in these proinflammatory mediators and their receptors appear to influence the susceptibility and severity of the inflammatory response within the eyes of patients during the development of IAU.