title: Infectious background of patients with a history of acute anterior uveitis.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To study the infectious background of patients with a history of acute anterior uveitis (AAU) and healthy control subjects.
  
  
  METHODS
  Sixty four patients with previous AAU and 64 sex and age matched controls were studied. Serum antibodies to Salmonellae, Yersiniae, Klebsiella pneumoniae, Escherichia coli, Proteus mirabilis, Campylobacter jejuni, and Borrelia burgdorferi were measured using enzyme linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA), and antibodies to Chlamydia trachomatis and Chlamydia pneumoniae by microimmunofluorescence test. Peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs), separated by density gradient centrifugation, were studied for Salmonella and Yersinia antigens by means of an immunofluorescence test, and for C pneumoniae DNA with a polymerase chain reaction (PCR).
  
  
  RESULTS
  Neither prevalence nor levels of single microbial antibodies studied differed between the patients and control subjects, or between subgroups of patients created on the basis of clinical characteristics. In logistic regression analysis, the high number of recurrences (>10) of AAU was independently related to the presence of single or multiple bacterial antibodies (p=0.04). None of the PBMC samples of the patients were positive for Yersinia or Salmonella antigens. C pneumoniae PCR was positive in a patient who was negative for C pneumoniae antibodies.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Although neither the prevalence nor the levels of single microbial antibodies studied differed between the patients and the controls, current data suggest that the presence of single or multiple antibodies in patients with many recurrences of AAU compared with patients with none or few recurrences may be a sign of repeated infections, antigen persistence, or raised innate immune responsiveness.
authors.affiliation: Department of Ophthalmology, University of Helsinki, Finland. minna.huhtinen@hus.fi
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Huhtinen
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Laasila
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Granfors
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Puolakkainen
authors.forename: I
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Seppälä
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Laasonen
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Repo
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Karma
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Leirisalo-Repo
mesh_terms: D000208:Acute Disease; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000907:Antibodies, Bacterial / Q000097:blood; D000942:Antigens, Bacterial / Q000097:blood; D001424:Bacterial Infections / Q000097:blood / Q000276:immunology; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D015796:HLA-B27 Antigen / Q000032:analysis; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012008:Recurrence; D014606:Uveitis, Anterior / Q000276:immunology / Q000382:microbiology*
chemical_list: D000907:Antibodies, Bacterial; D000942:Antigens, Bacterial; D015796:HLA-B27 Antigen