OCULAR AND SYSTEMIC DETERMINATION OF IL-1-BETA AND TUMOR-NECROSIS-FACTOR IN A PATIENT WITH OCULAR INFLAMMATION

Cytokines such as interleukin-1-beta (IL-1-beta) and tumour necrosis factor (TNF) may play an important role in ocular inflammation. We studied a patient with clinical features of sympathetic ophthalmia secondary to previous penetrating ocular injuries, and compared the ocular and systemic levels of IL-1-beta and TNF to control serum, and correlated these findings to histopathological sections of the patient's eye. Histology showed the presence of a diffuse chronic inflammatory infiltrate within the choroid and in a perivascular distribution in the retina. The significantly elevated ocular and systemic levels of IL-1-beta and TNF suggest that there is not only a localized ocular response but a systemic response as well. The presence of IL-1-beta TNF may play a role in the pathogenesis of ocular inflammation once the blood ocular barrier has been breached and ocular antigens have been exposed to the systemic immune system.