Correlation between serum immunoglobulin levels and retinal structure in patients with newly diagnosed Vogt‑Koyanagi‑Harada disease

Abstract

Immunoglobulins serve immunomodulatory roles in numerous autoimmune diseases. The aim of the present study was to investigate the correlations between serum Ig levels and retinal structural parameters in patients with newly diagnosed acute Vogt-Koyanagi-Harada (VKH) disease. A total of 138 participants were enrolled and the foveal thickness (FT), serous retinal detachment (SRD), sensory retinal thickness, central FT (CFT), cube volume (V) and cube average thickness (AT) were assessed by optical coherence tomography. The patients were divided, according to the extent of SRD, into a high-detachment group (>500 µm) and a low-detachment group (≤500 µm). Rate-scattering turbidimetry was performed to measure the Ig levels. The high-detachment group comprised 51 (36.96%) patients. The proportion of males was significantly greater in the high-detachment group compared with the low-detachment group (58.82 vs. 40.23%; P < 0.05) and best-corrected visual acuity was significantly worse in the high-detachment group compared with the low-detachment group (P<0.001). The IgE levels in the high-detachment group were significantly greater compared with the low-detachment group (P<0.05). FT, SRD, CFT, V and AT were significantly greater in the high-detachment group compared with the low-detachment group (P<0.001). The IgE levels were positively associated with SRD, CFT and AT (P<0.05). Multivariate binary logistic regression analysis demonstrated that male sex (B=2.447; P<0.05) and serum IgE levels (B=0.997, P<0.05) may be independent risk factors for severe SRD. The results of the present study demonstrated that males are more likely to develop severe SRD and that serum IgE levels were associated with the extent of detachment. These data suggested that IgE may be involved in the progression of VKH disease.