Preliminary Report on Interleukin-22, GM-CSF, and IL-17F in the Pathogenesis of Acute Anterior Uveitis

Purpose: Anterior uveitis is the most common anatomic subset of uveitis. We developed a novel multi-parametric flow cytometry panel to identify immune dysregulation signatures in HLA B27-associated acute anterior uveitis (AAU) and axial spondyloarthritis (AxSpA). Methods: We used fluorescence activated cell sorting to characterize T cell cytokine expression in stimulated T cell subsets from patients with AAU (n = 4) compared to healthy controls (n = 14) or subjects with AxSpA (n = 6). Results: Positive findings among subjects with AAU included a statistically significant increase in stimulated granulocyte-macrophage colony stimulating factor (GM-CSF), IL-17, and IL-22 synthesized by CD8 cells, a trend for stimulated ILC (innate lymphoid cells)-3 cells to synthesize more IL-22 (p = .07), and stimulated MAIT (mucosa associated innate lymphoid cells)-like cells that express the T cell receptor V alpha 7.2 to express IL-17A, IL-17F, and IL-22 in a greater percentage of cells relative to controls. IL-17F, GM- CSF, and IL-22 represent potentially novel targets in AAU. Conclusion: Our report is arguably the first to implicate IL-17F or ILC-3 and MAIT cells in the pathogenesis of AAU.

Automated summary

This study identified potential novel targets in HLA B27-associated acute anterior uveitis, including IL-17F, GM-CSF, and IL-22. It is the first report implicating IL-17F, ILC-3, and MAIT cells in the pathogenesis of AAU.