Uveitis occurs in a subset of patients with sarcoidosis. The purpose of this study was to determine whether genetic variants that have been associated previously with overall sarcoidosis are associated with increased risk of developing uveitis.Seventy-seven subjects were enrolled, including 45 patients diagnosed with sarcoidosis-related uveitis as cases and 32 patients with systemic sarcoidosis without ocular involvement as controls. Thirty-eight single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) previously associated with sarcoidosis, sarcoidosis severity, or other organ-specific sarcoidosis involvement were identified. Allele frequencies in ocular sarcoidosis cases versus controls were compared using the chi-square test, and p values were corrected for multiple hypotheses testing using permutation. All analyses were conducted with PLINK.SNPs rs1040461 and rs61860052, in ras-related protein RAS23 (RAB23) and annexin A11 (ANXA11) genes, respectively, were associated with sarcoidosis-associated uveitis. The T allele of rs1040461 and the A allele of rs61860052 were found to be more prevalent in ocular sarcoidosis cases. These associations remained after correction for the multiple hypotheses tested (p=0.01 and p=0.02). In a subanalysis of Caucasian Americans only, two additional variants within the major histocompatibility complex (MHC) genes on chromosome 6, in HLA-DRB5 and HLA-DRB1, were associated with uveitis as well (p=0.009 and p=0.04).Genetic variants in RAB23 and ANXA11 genes were associated with an increased risk of sarcoidosis-associated uveitis. These loci have previously been associated with overall sarcoidosis risk.
Purpose: To determine whether an association between Vitamin D and noninfectious ocular inflammation exists.Methods: Retrospective case-control study with 765 patients (333 uveitis cases, 103 scleritis cases, 329 controls). Logistic regression models examined the relationship between hypovitaminosis D and ocular inflammation.Results: The odds of having uveitis were 1.92 times higher for patients with hypovitaminosis D compared to patients with normal Vitamin D levels in the multivariate analysis [odds ratio (OR) = 1.92, 95% Confidence Interval (CI) = 1.36–2.72, p = 2.32 × 10–4]. A secondary analysis demonstrated that the odds of developing uveitis or scleritis were 5% lower and 4% lower, respectively, for every unit increase in Vitamin D level (uveitis: OR = 0.95, 95% CI = 0.94–0.97, p = 9.87 × 10–6; scleritis: OR = 0.96, 95% CI = 0.93–0.99, p = 0.009).Conclusion: Hypovitaminosis D was associated with increased risk of ocular inflammation in this retrospective study.
Abstract Purpose: To investigate the correlation between choroidal biomarkers using enhanced depth imaging optical coherence tomography (EDI-OCT) and indocyanine green angiography (ICGA) scoring for monitoring the activity of Vogt–Koyanagi–Harada (VKH). Methods: Patients who were not in the acute phase of VKH were recruited. Simultaneous EDI-OCT and ICGA were captured in seven patients only at baseline, in six patients at the 3-month follow-up, and in two patients at both the 6- and 9-month follow-ups. Subfoveal choroidal thickness (SFCT), subfoveal choroidal area (SFCA), and choroidal vascular index (CVI) were measured on EDI-OCT using FIJI software and a denoising system. ICGA scoring was performed. Results: Fifteen subjects with the median of 4-month follow-up were recruited. Forty-eight pairs of EDI-OCT and ICGA were investigated. In univariate analysis, ICGA scores were positively associated with SFCT, and SFCA, but negatively with CVI. The strength of correlation between ICGA scores and SFCT was strong (correlation coefficient: 0.91). In multivariate analysis, only SFCT remained significant (B: 2.4, 95% confidence interval: 1.9–3.0; P < 0.001). Conclusions: SFCT can be an acceptable representative of the subclinical inflammatory activity of VKH. As an alternative to ICGA, SFCT functions better than SFCA and CVI.
To determine whether hyperreflective foci (HF) and macular thickness on spectral domain ocular coherence tomography are associated with lipid levels in patients with Type 2 diabetes.Two hundred and thirty-eight participants from four sites had fundus photographs and spectral domain ocular coherence tomography images graded for hard exudates and HF, respectively. Regression models were used to determine the association between serum lipid levels and 1) presence of HF and hard exudates and 2) central subfield macular thickness, central subfield macular volume, and total macular volume.All patients with hard exudates on fundus photographs had corresponding HF on spectral domain ocular coherence tomography, but 57% of patients with HF on optical coherence tomography did not have hard exudates detected in their fundus photographs. Presence of HF was associated with higher total cholesterol (odds ratio = 1.13, 95% confidence interval = 1.01-1.27, P = 0.03) and higher low-density lipoprotein levels (odds ratio = 1.17, 95% confidence interval = 1.02-1.35, P = 0.02) in models adjusting for other risk factors. The total macular volume was also associated with higher total cholesterol (P = 0.009) and triglyceride (P = 0.02) levels after adjusting for other risk factors.Higher total and low-density lipoprotein cholesterol were associated with presence of HF on spectral domain ocular coherence tomography. Total macular volume was associated with higher total cholesterol and triglyceride levels.