Clinical Relevance of Autoantibodies and Inflammatory Parameters in Non-infectious Scleritis

Abstract

Purpose: Scleritis is a potentially blinding disorder, with highly unpredictable course and outcome. We analyzed the prevalence and clinical relevance of autoantibodies and inflammatory parameters in noninfectious scleritis. Methods: Retrospective analysis of laboratory findings in all consecutive patients at the department of Ophthalmology of the Erasmus MC with non-infectious scleritis. Results: We included 81 patients with non-infectious scleritis. A systemic autoimmune disease was present in 46%. Positive anti-nuclear antibodies were found in 30%, anti-neutrophil cytoplasmic antibodies were positive in 19%, and the presence of rheumatoid factor was shown in 17%. The aforementioned autoantibodies, as well as inflammatory parameters, failed to show prognostic clinical value. In contrast, anti-citrullinated peptide antibodies (ACPA), found in 9% of scleritis patients, were significantly associated with the development of scleral necrosis (P = .01). Conclusions:The presence of ACPA in patients with non-infectious scleritis was associated with the development of scleral necrosis.

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“…O'Leary et al discovered a panel of 13 discriminant tear protein markers to distinguish mild ocular graft versus host disease to moderate-to-severe disease [149]. Also, the use of novel targeted proteomic approaches are of interest to unravel disease-specific tear proteomes, such as in non-infectious uveitis (our data, unpublished) [150]. Although extensive tear-proteome profiling data in OTB is still not provided in the current literature, we believe that such studies are warranted as these would contribute to improved diagnosis in material that can be non-invasively obtained, thereby contributing to patient well-being [126].…”

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