Inflammatory mediators and posterior segment involvement in ocular Behçet disease

Abstract

Purpose

To assess the serum level of mediators and their relation with posterior ocular involvement in patients with Behçet disease (BD).

Methods

This study was a prospective, institutional clinical trial including 43 patients with ocular BD. Patients were divided into two subgroups: those with active posterior segment involvement (Group A) and those with inactive ocular BD (Group B). Group A included patients with posterior uveitis (vitritis or chorioretinal involvement), while Group B included patients with no active intraocular inflammation within the last 3 months. Serum levels of interleukin (IL)-6, IL-8, tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-α), vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF), and malondialdehyde (MDA) were measured by sandwich enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay and spectrophotometric assay and compared among the groups by independent sample t test and Mann-Whitney U-test.

Results

Serum levels of the mediators in Group A (IL-6 [23.1 pg/mL], IL-8 [161.1 pg/mL], TNF-α [30.5 pg/mL], VEGF [455.9 pg/mL], MDA [10.7 μm]) were found to be significantly higher than those in Group B (IL-6 [12.2 pg/mL], IL-8 [48.4 pg/mL], TNF-α [18.6 pg/mL], VEGF [138.0 pg/mL], MDA [5.1 μm]).

Conclusions

This study demonstrated that increased serum levels of inflammatory mediators including IL-6, IL-8, TNF-α, VEGF, and MDA were possibly involved in the development of posterior uveitis in BD.