| Presentation preference | Oral presentation |
| Title | Immunophenotyping of T cell subsets from paired vitreous and peripheral blood samples of patients with infectious and non-infectious uveitis |
| Purpose | To compare T cell immunophenotypes in paired vitreous and blood samples from patients with different posterior segment uveitis. |
| Methods | Vitreous infiltrating cells and peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PMBCs) were collected from different infectious/ non-infectious uveitis. CD4+ T cell subset frequencies and cytokine responses to different antigenic stimulations were determined by flow cytometry. Wilcoxon matched pairs signed rank test was used for comparing vitreous and PBMC samples. |
| Results | Twenty-four paired samples were analyzed. CD3+ and CD4+ frequencies were comparable between blood and vitreous, whereas CD8+ cells were lower (p=0.008) in vitreous samples. Among CD4+ cells, memory T cells (CD45RO+, p=0.0067) and resident memory T cells (CD69+, p=0.001) were more in vitreous, while central (CCR7+) and effector (CCR7-) memory subsets were comparable. Pro-inflammatory cytokine responses (TNF, IFN and IL-2) were higher in vitreous on stimulation with PMA/ionomycin stimulation (p=0.0059, 0.024, 0.002 respectively); and interphotoreceptor retinoid binding protein (IRBP) (p<0.0001, 0.0005, 0.012 respectively), compared to PBMCs. Finally, among tuberculin skin test positive patients (n=18), the TNF, IFN and IL-2 responses to Mycobacterium tuberculosis peptide pool stimulation were significantly higher (p=0.0002, 0.0005, 0.043 respectively) in vitreous CD4+ cells, than PBMCs. |
| Conclusion | T cell subsets in the investigated cohort of patients were significantly different in the vitreous as compared to blood comprising mainly CD4+ memory T-cells, with stronger cytokine responses to both ionophore and retinal autoantigens, as well as microbial antigens. |
| Conflict of interest | No |
Authors 1
| Last name | BASU |
| Initials of first name(s) | S |
| Department | LV Prasad Eye Institute |
| City | Hyderabad |
| Country | India |
Authors 2
| Last name | Alam |
| Initials of first name(s) | K |
| Department | GITAM University |
| City | Vishakhapatnam |
| Country | India |
Authors 3
| Last name | Das |
| Initials of first name(s) | B |
| Department | LV Prasad Eye Institute |
| City | Hyderabad |
| Country | India |
Authors 4
| Last name | Raina |
| Initials of first name(s) | A |
| Department | LV Prasad Eye Institute |
| City | Hyderabad |
| Country | India |
Authors 5
| Last name | Forrester |
| Initials of first name(s) | J |
| Department | University of Aberdeen |
| City | Aberdeen |
| Country | United Kingdom |
