Abstract
PURPOSE: To identify peripheral blood transcriptome differences in uveitis patients with sarcoidosis compared to those with Vogt-Koyanagi-Harada (VKH) syndrome and controls. METHODS: Ten patients with uveitis compatible with sarcoidosis (eight with pulmonary sarcoidosis, one with central nervous system sarcoidosis, and one with conjunctival sarcoidosis), nine patients with VKH, and nine healthy controls were prospectively enrolled. RESULTS: Ten genes exhibited a four-fold difference in expression in sarcoidosis patients compared to controls, many being involved in regulating inflammatory processes or cellular responses to microbes. CONCLUSIONS: This research suggests that the transcriptome in sarcoidosis is robust enough to be detected in the peripheral blood and that sarcoidosis can be distinguished from healthy controls. Differentially expressed genes may serve as candidates warranting further investigation with respect to disease pathophysiology and may provide additional information, such as ability to stratify patients based on associated disease severity and anatomical location of inflammation within the eye.