Ophtha-Lab, Department of Ophthalmology, and Uveitis Centre at St. Franziskus Hospital, Münster, Germany
Karoline Walscheid
Ophtha-Lab, Department of Ophthalmology, and Uveitis Centre at St. Franziskus Hospital, Münster, Germany; Department of Ophthalmology, University of Duisburg-Essen, Essen, Germany
Heinz Wiendl
Department of Neurology with Institute of Translational Neurology, University Hospital Muenster, Muenster, Germany
Karin Loser
Department of Human Medicine, University of Oldenburg, Oldenburg, Germany
Arnd Heiligenhaus
Ophtha-Lab, Department of Ophthalmology, and Uveitis Centre at St. Franziskus Hospital, Münster, Germany; University of Duisburg-Essen, Essen, Germany
Uveitis describes a heterogeneous group of inflammatory eye diseases characterized by infiltration of leukocytes into the uveal tissues. Uveitis associated with the HLA haplotype B27 (HLA-B27) is a common subtype of uveitis and a prototypical ocular immune-mediated disease. Local immune mechanisms driving human uveitis are poorly characterized mainly due to the limited available biomaterial and subsequent technical limitations. Here, we provide the first high-resolution characterization of intraocular leukocytes in HLA-B27-positive (n = 4) and -negative (n = 2) anterior uveitis and an infectious endophthalmitis control (n = 1) by combining single-cell RNA-sequencing with flow cytometry and protein analysis. Ocular cell infiltrates consisted primarily of lymphocytes in both subtypes of uveitis and of myeloid cells in infectious endophthalmitis. HLA-B27-positive uveitis exclusively featured a plasmacytoid and classical dendritic cell (cDC) infiltrate. Moreover, cDCs were central in predicted local cell-cell communication. This suggests a unique pattern of ocular leukocyte infiltration in HLA-B27-positive uveitis with relevance to DCs.
