Aqueous Cytokine Changes Associated with Posner-Schlossman Syndrome with and without Human Cytomegalovirus

AIM: To study the differences in aqueous cytokines in Posner-Schlossman Syndrome (PSS) patients with and without human cytomegalovirus (CMV) DNA in the aqueous humor. METHODS: This is a prospective study. Fifty-three uveitis patients with clinical signs of PSS were enrolled and aqueous humor samples were collected. Fourteen PSS patients were positive of CMV DNA in the aqueous by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) analysis. These eyes were negative of common ocular pathogens such as herpes simplex virus, varicella-zoster virus, rubella virus and toxoplasma. Twenty-five otherwise healthy cataract patients were enrolled as controls. Cytokine concentration was measured by a magnetic color-bead-based multiplex assay and analyzed using statistical and classification approaches. RESULTS: The average age of 53 PSS patients was 48.74±13.43 years (yrs) (mean ± standard deviation) and 66.3±15.0 yrs for the controls. The median CMV viral DNA copy number was 26000/mL aqueous (range 1400 to 85000 copies/mL) in 14 CMV positive patients as determined by quantitative PCR. PSS aqueous had significantly higher Interleukin (IL)-8 (CXCL8), monocyte chemotactic protein-1 (CCL2), macrophage inhibitory protein 1-β (CCL4), granulocyte colony-stimulating factor (GCSF) and transforming growth factor-β (TGF-β) levels than controls after adjusted by age and gender. IL-2, IL-12, tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α) and interferon-α (IFN-α) levels were significantly lower in PSS aqueous than controls. No difference between CMV positive PSS and CMV negative PSS aqueous was observed. Over 97% of PSS samples were distinguished from controls by elevated CXCL10 (>500 ng/mL), CXCL8 (>30 ng/mL) and CCL2 (>60 ng/mL) levels. CONCLUSION: PSS eyes were characterized by elevated aqueous chemokine concentration. The presence of CMV viral DNA was not associated with significant change of the type of cytokine expression in PSS patients.