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Purpose: To investigate the prevalence of macular abnormalities in Chinese Vogt-Koyanagi-Harada (VKH) patients.Methods: Clinical characteristics, therapeutic effectiveness and visual outcome were reviewed and analyzed.Results: The most common macular abnormality was macular edema (ME), followed by macular choroidal neovascularization (CNV). Macular abnormalities were associated with recurrent episodes, disease course and visual acuity ≤20/50 at first visit. The prevalence of macular abnormalities in patients who were not treated according to our regular treatment regimen with corticosteroids combined with immunosuppressive agents and who were followed-up for at least one year (13.1%) was significantly higher than in patients receiving the regular treatment (5.7%). Visual improvement was found in 66.7% of eyes with macular abnormalities after regular treatment.Conclusion: Macular abnormalities were associated with recurrent uveitis, course of disease and lower visual acuity at first visit. Regular treatment could prevent the development of macular abnormalities and improved visual outcome in most patients. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: To measure changes in the choroidal vascularity index (CVI) in chronic Vogt-Koyanagi-Harada (VKH) disease during a recurrent anterior uveitis attack.Methods: Forty VKH patients and 40 normal controls were included in this study. Choroidal images were recorded before and during a recurrent anterior uveitis attack, as well as after appropriate treatment. CVI was measured by the binarization technique using ImageJ software (Bethesda, MD).Results: The CVI was 0.75 ± 0.09 in quiescent VKH patients, which was significantly higher compared to healthy controls (0.70 ± 0.05, p ＜ 0.0001). The CVI significantly decreased to 0.72 ± 0.09 when granulomatous anterior uveitis appeared in these patients. However, it returned to 0.75 ± 0.08 after uveitis resolved.Conclusions: A significant decrease of the CVI occurred during recurrent anterior uveitis in chronic VKH. CVI may provide a novel parameter to guide the treatment of VKH disease. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: To characterize the clinical features of scleritis in Chinese patients.Methods: The history, demographics, ocular findings, auxiliary examination findings, complications, systemic diseases and therapeutic effects were analyzed retrospectively.Results: The study included 124 male and 169 female patients with scleritis. Anterior and posterior scleritis were, respectively, found in 243 and 42 patients. The other eight patients had both anterior and posterior involvement. The mean age of scleritis onset was 39.4 years. Systemic diseases associated with scleritis mainly included rheumatoid arthritis (RA) (4.4%), ankylosing spondylitis (AS) (3.4%), and tuberculosis (1.7%). Anterior uveitis (23.7%), complicated cataract (16.7%), and intraocular hypertension (12.6%) were common complications of scleritis. Scleritis was controlled in 94.6% of the patients treated with corticosteroids combined with immunosuppressive agents.Conclusions: Diffuse anterior scleritis was the most common scleritis entity in China. RA and AS were relatively common diseases associated with scleritis. Corticosteroids combined with immunosuppressive agents effectively controlled the disease. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: To investigate the effectiveness, visual outcome, and prognostic factors of Vogt--Koyanagi--Harada (VKH) disease treatment with a reduced dose of corticosteroids combined with immunosuppressive agents. Methods: The clinical characteristics, auxiliary examinations, treatment result, visual outcome, and prognostic factors in VKH patients were analyzed. Results: A total of 998 VKH patients were divided into posterior uveitis group (Group1), anterior uveal involvement group (Group 2), and recurrent granulomatous anterior uveitis group (Group 3). Reduced doses of corticosteroids combined with immunosuppressive agents were used for 1-1.5 years. Uveitis was controlled in 100%, 100%, and 96.8% of these three groups, respectively. Visual improvement and stability was observed in 98.1%, 96.5%, and 88.3%, respectively. Treatment after disease onset, visual acuity at first visit, and 1 month after treatment was positively associated with BCVA at last visit (p < 0.05). Conclusion: A reduced dose of corticosteroids combined with immunosuppressive agents effectively controlled the intraocular inflammation and improved visual acuity in most Chinese VKH patients. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: To investigate the clinical features of 51 uveitis patients with psoriasis in China.Methods: The psoriasis type, demographics, ocular findings, auxiliary examination findings, complications, and therapeutic effects were analyzed.Results: A total of 37 male and 14 female uveitis patients with psoriasis were classified into four groups: psoriasis vulgaris (29 cases); psoriatic arthritis (15 cases); psoriatic erythroderma (6 cases); and pustular psoriasis (1 case). The onset age of psoriasis was younger than for uveitis (p < 0.001). Anterior uveitis, panuveitis, and posterior uveitis was observed in 58.8%, 35.3%, and 5.9% of the patients, respectively. Hypopyon was more frequently noted in the group with psoriatic arthritis (p = 0.007). Optic disc staining was more frequently noted in the group with psoriatic erythroderma (p = 0.029). Significant visual improvement was observed in 17 patients.Conclusions: Uveitis can be associated with various types of psoriasis in China, but was most frequently observed in patients with psoriasis vulgaris and psoriatic arthritis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: This study was performed to evaluate the potential association of the tumor necrosis factor alpha inducible protein 3gene ( TNFAIP3) polymorphisms with Fuchs' heterochromic iridocyclitis (Fuchs' Syndrome) in a Chinese Han population. Methods: Five single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs), rs10499194, rs610604, rs7753873, rs5029928 and rs9494885 of TNFAIP3 were genotyped in 225 Fuchs' syndrome patients and 651 healthy controls using a PCR-restriction fragment length polymorphism assay. All control subjects were matched ethnically and geographically with the patients. Genotype counts in patients and controls were analyzed by the χ2 test. Results: All genotypic and allelic frequencies of the tested TNFAIP3 polymorphisms were in Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium. The genotypic and allelic frequencies of rs10499194, rs610604, rs7753873, rs5029928 and rs9494885 of TNFAIP3 were not different between patients with Fuchs' syndrome and controls. Conclusions: Our results suggest that rs10499194, rs610604, rs7753873, rs5029928 and rs9494885 of TNFAIP3 are not associated with Fuchs' syndrome in a Chinese Han population. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to investigate the protein profiles and pathogenesis in rabbit retinas from normal and post-traumatic proliferative vitreoretinopathy (PVR). Materials and methods: A modified rabbit model of post-traumatic PVR was modified used in the study. Two-dimensional gel electrophoresis (2-DE) coupled with mass spectrometry (MS) were utilized to identify the changes to the protein profiles of rabbit retina. The myosin light chains-2 (MLC2) was subsequently chosen as a target for its biggest difference in 2-DE gels using Western blot, immunohistochemistry and MTT assay. Results: Comparative gel analysis revealed that 20 spots were up-regulated or novel emerged and 12 were down-regulated or even disappeared in PVR retinas. The majority of changes could consist of the following functional groups of proteins including the cell skeleton proteins; the wound healing/cell adhesion proteins; the proteins involved in metabolism and in blood-retina barrier destruction; oxidative stress-related proteins and the ion channel proteins. Western blot analysis confirmed that MLC2 protein expression was upregulated in PVR retinas. MTT assay showed that the anti-MLC2 monoclonal antibody significantly decreased the proliferation in ARPE-19 cells stimulated with different concentrations and times in vitro experiment. Conclusions: Our results suggested that PVR is a complicated pathology process with alterations in expression of a variety of functional proteins rather than a single key protein. The data reported may be useful for further studies on pathogenesis of human PVR and for the screening of biomarkers to develop new potential therapeutic approaches. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]