Findings in Detection of Herpesviridae by Polymerase Chain Reaction and Intraocular Antibody Production in a Case Series of Anterior Uveitis

Abstract

Purpose: To target the use of two biologic tests in the diagnostic of viral Herpesviridae anterior uveitis (AC) by the consideration of clinical behavior and delay of intraocular sampling.

Methods: Aqueous humor samples were collected from 42 patients suspected of having AU of infectious origin at presentation. The diagnosis of infectious uveitis was confirmed by quantification of antibodies with the Goldmann-Witmer coefficient (GWC) and/or detection of Herpesviridae genomes with PCR. The data were compared with data of 16 uveitis control samples used to calculate the specificity of the tests.

Results: Sixteen out of 42 eyes (38%) had a final diagnosis of anterior segment infectious uveitis of viral origin (Herpesviridae) confirmed by PCR positive result (5/14 eyes; 14 of the 16 eyes were tested by PCR) and/or specific intraocular antibody synthesis (14/16 eyes).

Conclusions: While the GWC is progressively less often performed, these findings suggest that it still has a role in AU suspected of herpesvirus etiology.

KEYWORDS::

• Anterior uveitis
• Cytomegalovirus
• Goldmann-Witmer coefficient
• Herpesvirus
• PCR

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

We would like to thank Anne Le Bouter and Muriel Mace (Laboratoire, Centre National d’Ophtalmologie des Quinze-Vingts, France) for their scientific assistance, and Sarah Lawson, London, for her assistance in the English translation, and the CRB, CHNO des Quinze-Vingts, France. Involved in study design (M.H.E., L.B., C.C.); data collection (M.H.E., L.B., S.D., C.C.); data management and analysis (M.H.E, L.B, C.C, S.D., P.G., E.H, L.L, J.A.S, M.W.); data interpretation (M.H.E, L.B, C.C, P.G, E.H, L.L, J.A.S, M.W); preparation of initial draft of manuscript (all authors); and review and approval of manuscript (all authors).

Declaration of interest: The authors report no conflicts of interest. The authors alone are responsible for the content and writing of the paper.