Abstract
This retrospective study is aimed at determining the correlation between cytokine levels and virus status in the aqueous humor of 38 patients with Fuchs heterochromic iridocyclitis (FHI) with/without a viral presence between May 2017 and January 2020. The levels of cytokines were analyzed in the groups with and without virus-related FHI. Among the patients, 50% had rubella virus, 5.26% had cytomegalovirus, and 2.63% had herpes simplex virus infections. The expression of interleukin-6 (IL-6) and IL-8 was significantly higher, and that of basic fibroblast growth factor (bFGF) was significantly lower in the virus-positive group than in the virus-negative group (P = 0.015, P = 0.001, and P = 0.001, respectively). Although there was no significant difference in the mean expression of vascular cell adhesion protein 1 (VCAM-1), IL-10, and vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF), that of VCAM-1 and IL-10 was higher (M = 1338 and M = 1390, respectively; M = 6.225 and 10.600, respectively) and that of VEGF was lower (M = 134.5 and M = 38.70, respectively) in the virus-positive group than in the virus-negative group. Similar findings were observed for the expressions of IL-6, IL-8, and bFGF in the rubella-positive and rubella-negative groups. Viral presence was highly related to FHI, especially that of the rubella virus. High levels of inflammatory cytokines and low levels of neovascularization-related factors are involved in rubella-related FHI. These study findings could be helpful in the diagnosis and treatment of FHI.
Highlights
Fuchs heterochromic iridocyclitis (FHI) is a chronic, usually unilateral, nongranulomatous uveitis of insidious onset
Aqueous humor specimens were collected from 38 patients whose conditions were diagnosed as FHI based on the Standardization of Uveitis Nomenclature (SUN) classification criteria; the patients had no other eye or systemic diseases
FHI is a unilateral chronic nongranulomatous uveitis that is difficult to diagnose based on clinical manifestations alone, especially in the Chinese population
Summary
Fuchs heterochromic iridocyclitis (FHI) is a chronic, usually unilateral, nongranulomatous uveitis of insidious onset. It is characterized by iris depigmentation, accounting for approximately 0.5–7% of all cases with uveitis [1–3]. The typical characteristics of FHI are keratic precipitates (KPs), iris atrophy, nonpersistent inflammatory manifestations, vitreous infiltration, lens opacification, and secondary glaucoma with symptoms such as blurred vision [4]. Medium- or star-shaped KPs could be distributed in the cornea of the triangle area, pupil area, or diffusely posterior in patients with FHI. Ocular examination can show light anterior chamber flare, a small number of aqueous cells, iris depigmentation, or iris atrophy. FHI patients are prone to have Koeppe nodules, posterior capsule opacification, ocular hypertension, opacity, and cells in the anterior vitreous. Clinical manifestations such as abnormal corneal spots or corneal endothelium, abnormal blood–humor barrier, and nonpersistent inflammation can be found in FHI [5–11]
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