Photo Credit: Diy13

The following is a summary of “Pan-viral Antibody Repertoire of Aqueous Humor in Cytomegalovirus Uveitis,” published in the May 2024 issue of Ophthalmology by Tiu et al.

Identifying infectious causes in uveitis is crucial, but testing ocular fluid is challenging due to the limited volume sampled. Traditional assays can’t determine antibody composition. 

Researchers conducted a prospective study exploring the use of VirScan, a multiplexable serological assay, and Phage ImmunoPrecipitation Sequencing (PhIP-Seq) library derived from the sequences of over 200 viruses to analyze antibody composition in uveitis patients’ aqueous humor (AH). 

They examined 11 patients with PCR-positive CMV anterior uveitis and 34 cataract surgery controls. Paired AH and plasma samples were analyzed using VirScan PhIP-Seq. They ranked peptide tiles based on normalized counts to identify antibodies against viruses with human tropism. 

The results showed that, In just 20 microliters of AH from CMV uveitis patients and controls, they found notable antibodies against Herpesviridae, Picornavirdae, and Paramyxoviridae. CMV uveitis patients had more anti-CMV antibodies in AH than in plasma. Specifically, they detected increased antibodies against CMV tegument proteins pp150 (P=1.5e-06) and envelope glycoprotein B (P=0.0045) in AH compared to controls.

Investigators concluded that their proof-of-concept study not only revealed the antibody makeup of AH but also broadened PhIP-Seq’s potential for detecting AH antibodies in studying inflammatory eye conditions.

Source: ajo.com/article/S0002-9394(24)00205-8/abstract#%20