Genetic factors in susceptibility and resistance to experimental autoimmune uveoretinitis

Experimental autoimmune uveoretinitis (EAU) can be induced in susceptible stains of rats and mice by immunization with purified retinal antigens, and serves as a model for human uveitis. Because strong HLA associations have been noted in a number of human uveitic diseases, we investigated the role of major histocompatibility complex (MHC) vs. non-MHC genes in the control of susceptibility to ocular autoimmunity, using the mouse and the rat EAU models. It was shown that EAU expression in mice requires both a susceptible MHC haplotype and a "permissive" genetic background. MHC control of susceptibility was tentatively mapped to the I-A subregion in H-2k. I-Ek expression appeared to have an ameliorating effect on disease. Susceptible H-2 haplotypes exhibited highest disease scores on the B10 background, and disease was reduced, or even absent, on some other (nonpermissive) backgrounds. Factors which may determine "permissiveness" or "nonpermissiveness" of a particular genetic background, as studied in mice and rats, may include diverse genetic mechanisms spanning regulation of cytokines, hormones, vascular effects and the T cell repertoire. Taken together, the data suggest that, in individuals susceptible to uveitis by virtue of their MHC, the final expression of disease will be determined by the genetic background.