eLife (Nov 2021)

Intraocular dendritic cells characterize HLA-B27-associated acute anterior uveitis

  • Maren Kasper,
  • Michael Heming,
  • David Schafflick,
  • Xiaolin Li,
  • Tobias Lautwein,
  • Melissa Meyer zu Horste,
  • Dirk Bauer,
  • Karoline Walscheid,
  • Heinz Wiendl,
  • Karin Loser,
  • Arnd Heiligenhaus,
  • Gerd Meyer zu Hörste

DOI
https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.67396
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 10

Abstract

Read online

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.

Keywords