Distinct microRNA-155 expression in the vitreous of patients with primary vitreoretinal lymphoma and uveitis.

PURPOSE: To use micro-ribonucleic acid (microRNA) profiles in the vitreous for differential diagnosis of primary vitreoretinal lymphoma and uveitis. DESIGN: Prospective cross-sectional study. METHODS: This prospective cross-sectional study included 17 diffuse large B-cell primary vitreoretinal lymphoma and 12 uveitis patients. The supernatant of ocular fluid was subjected to total RNA extraction, followed by complementary deoxyribonucleic acid (cDNA) synthesis. Selected samples (primary vitreoretinal lymphoma, n = 3; uveitis, n = 3) were arrayed by a real-time polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR)-based microRNA panel that detects 168 human mature microRNAs. The markers promising in distinct levels between uveitis and lymphoma were further tested for in all the other 23 samples by individual RT-PCR analysis. RESULTS: Of 168 microRNAs in the array, 66.5% were detectable with consistent higher microRNA-484, microRNA-197, and microRNA-132 in the primary vitreoretinal lymphoma vitreous and higher microRNA-155, microRNA-200c, and microRNA-22* in the uveitic ocular fluids. The results were normalized by different combinations of 7 control microRNAs (microRNA-103, microRNA-191, microRNA-42-5p, microRNA-16, microRNA-425, microRNA-93, and microRNA-451). After optimization, normalization against microRNA-16 was equally as reliable as the average of the 7 control microRNAs. Individual assays of all samples supported the pattern yielded from the array analysis. But only microRNA-155 was significantly higher in the uveitic vitreous compared to that with lymphoma. CONCLUSIONS: Mature microRNAs are detectable in ocular fluid samples. Primary vitreoretinal B-cell lymphoma and uveitis might be characterized by distinct microRNA signatures. Quantification of ocular microRNA-155 might be helpful in the differential diagnosis of these 2 diseases.