Purpose: We investigated the aqueous humor proteome and associated plasma proteome in patients with infectious or noninfectious uveitis.
Methods: AH and plasma were obtained from 28 patients with infectious uveitis (IU), 29 patients with noninfectious uveitis (NIU) and 35 healthy controls undergoing cataract surgery. The proteins profile was analyzed by SomaScan technology.
Results: We found 1844 and 2484 proteins up-regulated and 124 and 161 proteins down-regulated in the AH from IU and NIU groups, respectively. In the plasma, three proteins were up-regulated in NIU patients, and one and five proteins were down-regulated in the IU and NIU patients, respectively. The results of pathway enrichment analysis for both IU and NIU groups were related mostly to inflammatory and regulatory processes.
Conclusion: SomaScan was able to detect novel AH and plasma protein biomarkers in IU and NIU patients. Also, the unique proteins found in both AH and plasma suggest a protein signature that could distinguish between infectious and noninfectious uveitis.
Keywords: Biomarkers; SOMAscan; infectious uveitis; noninfectious uveitis; proteomic platform.