Microbiome and Ocular Inflammatory Disease

目前尚不清楚是什么导致了眼部炎症发作，但一个可能的增强因素是微生物群。随着新技术的出现，微生物组得到了越来越多的研究，但这些技术还没有应用于葡萄膜炎。我们希望评估眼部炎症性疾病：葡萄膜炎和老年性黄斑变性(AMD)患者的微生物组组成，这些患者可能是最近发病的未经治疗的疾病或正在接受标准治疗的患者。本次研究共有65名参与者。参赛者必须年满18岁。加州大学洛杉矶分校的乔纳森·布劳恩博士建立的健康志愿者现有对照人群的微生物组样本将被用于与从这项研究的参与者那里获得的微生物组样本进行比较。来自NEI建立的健康志愿者的现有对照人群的外周血液样本将被用来与从这项研究的参与者那里获得的外周血液样本进行比较。 这是一项观察性、横断面、单中心的研究。参与者将接受全面的眼科检查和临床测试，并将接受肛门镜检查以收集直肠液样本或提交粪便样本。 结果将与不同微生物组样本与对照和组之间的比较有关。此外，还将与这些发现和免疫组进行比较。

What precipitates ocular inflammatory episodes remains unknown, but a possible potentiating factor is the microbiome. The microbiome has become increasingly studied with the advent of new techniques, but these have not been applied to uveitis. We wish to evaluate microbiome composition in patients with the ocular inflammatory diseases: uveitis and age-related macular degeneration (AMD) who may have a recent onset untreated disease or be on standard therapy. A total of 65 participants will be enrolled in this study. Participants must be at least 18 years old. Microbiome samples from an existing control population of healthy volunteers established by Dr. Jonathan Braun of UCLA will be used as a comparison for the microbiome samples obtained from the participants in this study. Peripheral blood samples from an existing control population of healthy volunteers established at the NEI will be used as a comparison for the peripheral blood samples obtained from the participants in this study. This is an observational, cross-sectional, single-center study. Participants will receive a complete ocular examination with clinical testing as determined clinically and will undergo an anoscopy for collection of rectal fluid specimens or will submit a stool sample. The outcomes will be related to the comparison of the various microbiome samples to controls and between groups. In addition, comparisons will be made to these findings and the immunome.