Interleukin-1 and tumor necrosis factor-alpha: novel targets for immunotherapy in Eales disease.

Background: Eales disease is an idiopathic obliterative vasculopathy that primarily affects the peripheral retina of young adults. The authors evaluated interleukin 1 beta (IL-1beta), interleukin-6 (IL-6), Interleukin-10 (IL-10), and tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-alpha) in the serum of patients with Eales disease stages for the first time.
Methods: The study group consisted of 45 consecutive patients of Eales disease [inflammatory stage (n = 15) and proliferative stage (n = 30)] and 28 healthy controls. Immunoassays for the quantification of the levels of four cytokines including IL-1beta, IL-6, IL-10, and TNF-alpha in the serum samples were performed using ELISA kits.
Results: IL-1beta, IL-6, IL-10, and TNF-alpha levels were found to be increased significantly in the inflammatory stage of Eales disease as compared to controls (p < .001). IL-1beta levels decreased significantly during the proliferative stage of the disease as compared to the inflammatory stage (p = .03). TNF-alpha levels increased significantly during the proliferative stage as compared to the inflammatory stage (p = .02).
Conclusions: Raised levels of IL-1beta and TNF-alpha were observed in the inflammatory stage and persisted in the proliferative stage of the disease. The IL-1 system and TNF-alpha represent novel target for immunotherapy for controlling inflammatory activity and/or the associated long-term sequelae related to angiogenesis in Eales disease.