This is the first study of chemokine concentrations in the aqueous humor of patients with acute anterior uveitis. The concentration of chemokines: IL-8, IP-10, MCP-1, RANTES and MIP-1 beta were significantly increased during the active stages of AU, and correlated with the clinical severity of the disease. These chemoattractant cytokines probably play a critical role in leucocyte recruitment in acute AU.

Metalloproteinases found in normal human AH may participate in physiological turnover of extracellular matrix in the eye. Elevated levels of MMPs were found in the AH of patients with uveal inflammation and animals with LPS-induced uveitis, where they are likely to be critical to tissue destructive and repair processes. It is likely that pro-inflammatory cytokines such as tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-alpha) and interleukin-1 alpha (IL-1 alpha), which are known modulators of MMPs, induce their secretion in acute anterior uveitis.

Objective. To assess the efficacy of ciprofloxacin in the treatment of reactive arthritis (ReA) and anterior uveitis (AU) in a double-blind, randomized, placebocontrolled trial.Methods. Seventy-two patients participated in this study, 56 with ReA and 42 with AU (26 patients had both ReA and AU). Ciprofloxacin (750 mg twice a day) was administered for 12 months with a 12-month followup. End points of the study included time to disease relapse and measures of disease severity.Results. There was no difference between groups in time to disease relapse, joint inflammation, number of joints and enthesis involved in patients with ReA, or signs and symptoms of AU.Conclusion. Long-term treatment of ReA and AU with ciprofloxacin made no statistically significant difference to the natural history of these diseases or their severity.

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