| Presentation preference | Poster presentation |
| Title | Dysregulated Chronicity in Inflammation With Clinical Phenotype of Presumed Tubercular Uveitis Is Decided by Activated IL-17+ T Cells and Inflammatory Cytokines |
| Accept poster if oral is not possible ? | Yes |
| Purpose | To study T cell subsets in TBU patients and their possible associations. IL17A upon activation in the TBU cohort and FoxP3+ in the TBU and Non-infectious Uveitis cohort (NIU) were the critical subsets. |
| Methods | Patients with positive Mantoux, QuantiFERON TB Gold Test, High-Resolution Computed Tomography of the chest, and PCR from ocular fluids were included. 17 TBU patients, 18 NIU patients, and age-matched healthy controls were included. On freshly collected peripheral blood samples flow cytometry analysis was performed. |
| Results | CD4 T cells gated for IL17 show a marginal expression increase in TBU patients and those with NIU. However, after stimulation in culture, CD4 T cells show a marked increase in IL17 (p=0.001), producing copious IL17, known to be associated with TB uveitis. In both ocular TB and NIU patients, T regs showed an increase compared to the healthy group without ocular complications. Likewise, the frequency of the CD4+ CD45RO+ T cells identified as memory T cells and CD4+ CD25+ FoxP3+ and CD45RO+ had greater counts and were statistically significant in both the TBU as well as NIU cohort (p=0.04) compared to healthy controls. The inflammatory phenotype in presumed TBU shows increased percentages of IL17+ T helper cells with greater response to activation in the TBU cohort. |
| Conclusion | Contribution to inflammatory activity is of greater importance compared to T regulatory cell percentages. Activated Th17 cells and their inflammatory phenotype may be potential drivers contributing to chronic inflammation. This may be further exacerbated as CD45RO T cell levels increase suggesting hypersensitivity. |
| Conflict of interest | No |
1
| Last name | BISWAS |
| Initials of first name(s) | J |
| Department | Director of Uveitis & Ocular Pathology Department, Sankara Nethralaya, |
| City | Chennai |
| Country | India |
2
| Last name | Lavanya |
| Initials of first name(s) | E |
| Department | Department of Ocular Pathology & Biotechnology |
| City | Chennai |
| Country | India |
3
| Last name | Sudharshan |
| Initials of first name(s) | S |
| Department | Department of Uvea |
| City | Chennai |
| Country | India |
4
| Last name | Chatterjee |
| Initials of first name(s) | N |
| Department | Department of Ocular Pathology |
| City | Chennai |
| Country | India |
