We aimed to measure serum cytokine levels in patients with uveitis in this study. Serum levels of interleukin (IL)-2 and interferone (INF)-γ, produced by T helper (Th)1 cells; IL-4 and IL-10 produced by Th2 cells; IL-8 produced by endothelial cells and tumor necrosis factor (TNF-α) produced by monocytes and macrophages were measured. Forty-one patients with active uveitis, 20 patients with inactive uveitis in remission and 18 control subjects were included in the study. Patients with any systemic or ocular infections were excluded from the study. Patients were evaluated in three categories as active and inactive uveitis; Behçet uveitis and Non-Behçet uveitis and according to their clinical characteristics (number of the eyes affected, disease period, number of recurrences, degree of vision loss, localization of uveitis, level of cellular activity and activity of systemic disease). No significant differences were observed between serum IL-2, IL-4, IL-10, INF-γ and TNF-α levels, and uveitis activity. Serum IL-8 levels in patients with active uveitis were higher than those of the control group (p=0.025). There was a significant negative correlation between the activity of systemic disease and serum IL-4 levels in patients with active uveitis (r=-0.507, p=0.003). There was a significant positive corelation between serum TNF-α levels and severity of vision loss (r=0.483, p=0.004). In conclusion we found a Th1 immune response in response to systemic disease activity in patients with active uveitis. IL-8 can be used as an uveitis marker, and TNF- α can be used as a prognostic indicator in patients with uveitis.

Keywords: Serum levels, cytokine, uveitis