Pentraxin 3 is a Novel Inflammatory Marker of HLA-B27-associated Uveitis

Evidence exists that pentraxin 3 (PTX3) is involved in the pathogenesis of autoimmune diseases. The aim of this study was to analyze the levels of PTX3 in aqueous humor (AH) samples from patients with specific autoimmune uveitic entities. In addition, we correlated PTX3 levels with the levels of proinflammatory cytokines and chemokines and the clinical disease activity.

AH samples from patients with active uveitis associated with human leukocyte antigen (HLA)-B27-related inflammation (n = 12), Behçet's disease (BD) (n = 13), Vogt-Koyanagi-Harada (VKH) disease (n = 12), sarcoidosis (n = 8) and control subjects (n = 9) were measured with the use of multiplex assays.

When considering all uveitis patients as one group (n = 45), PTX3 levels were significantly increased compared to controls (p = 0.002). When comparing the four individual disease groups to controls, PTX3 levels were significantly higher in only HLA-B27-associated uveitis (p < 0.001). PTX3 levels were significantly higher in patients with HLA-B27-associated uveitis than in patients with BD (p = 0.034) and VKH disease (p < 0.001). PTX3 levels had a significant correlation with clinical disease activity (r = 0.480; p = 0.001) and strong positive correlations with aqueous humor levels of interferon-γ (r = 0.749; p < 0.001), interleukin (IL)-1ß (r = 0.804; p < 0.001), IL-6 (r = 707; p < 0.001), CCL20 (r = 0.691; p < 0.001) and CXCL8 (r = 0.775; p < 0.001).

PTX3 is an inflammatory marker and might exert a pathogenic role in HLA-B27-associated uveitis.