UVEITIS GENE-EXPRESSION PROFILING

描述（由申请人提供）：葡萄膜炎是一组令人烦恼的疾病，它们共同代表了与糖尿病相当的失明原因。大多数葡萄膜炎要么是传染性的，要么是免疫介导的。我们建议建立一个与葡萄膜炎相关的3种最重要疾病患者的外周血基因表达数据库：强直性脊柱炎、结节病和白塞病。我们将使用微阵列基因芯片技术定量测量具有40,000多个基因序列的患者外周血中一致性改变的表达。已知这种方法可以检测全身免疫介导的疾病。我们将使用该数据库：1)确定葡萄膜炎和强直性脊柱炎、结节病或白塞氏症患者是否可以与正常人群或具有相同全身性疾病但没有葡萄膜炎病史的对照组区分开来；2)确定基因表达谱是否可以区分感染性或特发性葡萄膜炎与脊柱炎、结节病或白塞氏病；3)确定当发作性疾病（如脊柱炎或白塞氏病）发作或缓解时，该基因谱如何随时间变化；4)基因表达变化与眼部炎症过程预后的相关性。葡萄膜炎患者基因表达数据库的建立有可能阐明疾病的发病机制，建立新的诊断工具，并提供预测预后的手段。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Uveitis is a group of troublesome diseases that collectively represent a cause of blindness comparable to diabetes. Most forms of uveitis are either infectious or immune-mediated. We propose to create a data base on peripheral blood gene expression for patients with 3 of the most important diseases associated with uveitis: ankylosing spondylitis, sarcoidosis, and Behcet's disease. We will quantitatively measure the expression of consistent alteration in peripheral blood from patients with more than 40,000 gene sequences using microarray gene chip technology. This approach is known to detect systemic immune-mediated disease. We will use this data base to: 1) Determine if patients with uveitis and ankylosing spondylitis, sarcoidosis, or Behcet's can be distinguished from a normal population or controls with the same systemic disease but no history of uveitis; 2) Determine if the profile of gene expression can distinguish infectious or idiopathic forms of uveitis from patients with spondylitis, sarcoidosis, or Behcet's; 3) Determine how this gene profile changes over time as episodic disease such as spondylitis or Behcet's activates or remits; and 4) Correlate the changes in gene expression with the prognosis of the ocular inflammatory process. The creation of a gene expression data base for patients with uveitis has the potential to clarify the pathogenesis of disease, establish new diagnostic tools, and provide a means for predicting prognosis.