Journal Article

IL-10 and IL-6/IL-10 as predictive biomarkers for treatment response in non-infectious uveitis

Urzua, Cristhian A., Vega-Tapia, Fabian, Rojas, Felipe M., Cuitino, Loreto, Flores, Ivan, Goecke, Annelise, Valenzuela, Rodrigo A., Elizalde, Nathaly

2025

Overview

Uveitis, a group of heterogeneous diseases causing ocular inflammation, is a major contributor to vision loss globally. While systemic corticosteroids (CS) are the mainstay treatment, identifying CS-refractory patients remains a significant challenge. This study aimed to explore cytokine expression and Glucocorticoid Receptor (GR) levels as biomarkers for the early detection of CS-refractory cases in non-infectious uveitis. We assayed blood samples from 19 patients with non-infectious uveitis, for the expression of IL-6, IL-17A, TNF-α, IL-10 and GRα. The cohort included 11 refractory and 8 sensitive patients, categorized based on their clinical response to corticosteroids (prednisone 1 mg/kg/day). Blood draws were conducted at three time points (at baseline, day 7- and day 14 after CS initiation), and peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) were isolated to measure cytokine and GRα transcript levels via real-time PCR. The expression levels of GRα and cytokines IL-6, IL-17A and TNF-α did not show significant changes between CS-sensitive and CS-refractory patients on the different days of treatment. However, IL-10 expression levels as the day14-to-day7 ratio were significantly higher in patients sensitive to CS therapy. A higher day14-to-day7 ratio was also found for the IL-6/IL-10, IL-17A/IL-10 and GRα/IL-10 ratios. ROC curve analysis demonstrated a robust predictive performance of IL-10 mRNA expression and the IL-6/IL-10 ratio for identifying CS-refractory patients. In conclusion, the expression of IL-10 and the IL-6/IL-10 ratio hold promise as early predictive biomarkers for CS treatment refractoriness in patients with non-infectious uveitis. These findings offer valuable insights into personalized treatment strategies, potentially leading to improved clinical outcomes.

• Publisher: Frontiers Media SA,Frontiers Media S.A
• Subject: Adult / Aged / Biomarkers / Biomarkers - blood / Chemokines / Corticosteroids / Cytokines / Disease / Drug dosages / Eye diseases / Female / Gene expression / Glucocorticoid receptors / Humans / Immunology / Inflammation / Interleukin 10 / Interleukin 6 / Interleukin-10 - blood / Interleukin-10 - genetics / Interleukin-6 - blood / Leukocytes (mononuclear) / Male / Medical imaging / Middle Aged / non-infectious uveitis / Pathogenesis / Patients / Peripheral blood mononuclear cells / Prednisone / Receptors, Glucocorticoid - blood / Receptors, Glucocorticoid - genetics / refractoriness / Software / Treatment Outcome / treatment response / Tumor necrosis factor-TNF / Tumor necrosis factor-α / Uveitis / Uveitis - blood / Uveitis - diagnosis / Uveitis - drug therapy / Uveitis - immunology / Young Adult