Intraocular diseases - anterior uveitis

Abstract

Uveitis is a general term for inflammatory disorders of the uveal tract and encompasses a wide range of underlying etiologies. It may be idiopathic, associated with systemic diseases or result from a variety of infectious agents. Uveitis is responsible for over 2.8% of blindness in the United States. Each year, 17.6% of active uveitis patients experience a transient or permanent loss of vision. Anterior uveitis (AU), which refers to inflammation within the anterior segment of the eye, is the most common form of uveitis. Experimental autoimmune AU (EAAU) is an organ-specific autoimmune disease of the eye, which serves as an animal model of idiopathic human AU. Recently, type I collagen was identified as the target autoantigen in EAAU. Thus, human AU may be an e xample of autoimmunity to local ocular collagen.