Abstract

Background: Uveitis is the inflammation of the uvea that often occurs in children. There are many causes of disease, but some of them do not have any reasons and are then called idiopathic uveitis. Cytokines play an important role in the regulation of the immune response. Determination of cytokine profiles could contribute to the explanation of the etiology of uveitis and could serve to evaluate the inflammation intensity as well as be helpful in the early diagnosis this disease. The purpose of this study was to determine the serum level of selected inflammatory cytokines, such as interleukin-6 (IL-6), interleukin-8 (IL-8), and tumor necrosis factor α (TNF-α) and to compare their diagnostic power as a markers of idiopathic anterior uveitis in children.
Methods: The study was carried out on 28 children diagnosed with idiopathic anterior uveitis. The reference group comprised 30 healthy children. Serum IL-6, IL-8, and TNF-α concentrations were measured with specific enzyme-linked immunoassay (ELISA) methods.
Results: The mean values of IL-6, IL-8, and TNF-α in the children with idiopathic anterior uveitis were significantly higher than those found in the reference group. The highest sensitivity, specificity, accuracy, positive and negative predictive value, and likelihood ratio of a positive test result were achieved for IL-8. There was a significant difference between the area under the curve for IL-6 and IL-8.
Conclusions: Increased serum concentrations of interleukin IL-6, IL-8, and TNF-α may suggest that these cytokines induce inflammatory changes in the ocular surface. Analysis of cytokine levels showed that IL-8 has the highest diagnostic power and is the best marker for diagnosis of idiopathic anterior uveitis in children.

DOI: 10.7754/Clin.Lab.2017.170629