Valdes L, Cox JT, Yang J, Susarla G, Han S, Papaliodis GN, Sobrin L.
Anti-infliximab antibodies and clinical response in noninfectious uveitis and scleritis patients treated with infliximab: A retrospective review. Am J Ophthalmol Case Rep 2022;27:101634.
AbstractPurpose: To investigate the clinical response to infliximab in ocular inflammation patients who develop anti-infliximab antibodies (AIA) vs. those patients who do not develop AIA. Observations: A retrospective review was performed of patients treated with infliximab for noninfectious uveitis (NIU) or scleritis. Clinical response was determined as a composite clinical endpoint and classified as complete, partial, or absent. Nine of 32 infliximab-treated patients (28%) were found to develop AIA. Among the AIA-positive patients, clinical response was complete in 7 patients (78%) and partial in 2 patients (22%). Among the AIA-negative patients, clinical response was complete in 15 patients (65%), partial in 6 patients (26%) and absent in 2 patients (9%). Serum infliximab levels tended to decrease with appearance of AIA but rarely became undetectable. Conclusions and Importance: In this pilot study, AIA-positive patients did not have diminished clinical response to infliximab when compared with AIA-negative patients. There was a high rate of complete clinical response to infliximab in this group of NIU and scleritis patients. Approximately a quarter of patients developed AIA. AIA-positive patients did not have diminished rates of clinical response when compared with AIA-negative patients. This suggests that routine AIA monitoring may not be clinically useful, although validation of this finding in larger cohorts is necessary.
Vemula SK, Kim SA, Muvavarirwa T, Bell JL, Whitman MC.
Impaired Extraocular Muscle Innervation Is Present Before Eye Opening in a Mouse Model of Infantile Nystagmus Syndrome. Invest Ophthalmol Vis Sci 2022;63(10):4.
AbstractPurpose: To determine if extraocular muscles (EOMs) from mice with nystagmus show abnormalities in myofiber composition and innervation, as seen in EOMs from human nystagmus patients, and to determine when in development those changes occur. Methods: Balb/c albino mice were crossed to pigmented mice to generate heterozygous mice, which were mated to create experimental litters containing albinos and wild-type controls. Orbits were harvested from adult animals (12 weeks old); on postnatal day (P)0, P10, P14, and P21; and from 6-week-old animals. EOM sections were collected from the intraorbital portion of the muscles. Sections were immunostained for slow and fast myosin and for neuromuscular junctions (NMJs). The proportion of each myofiber subtype and the density and size of NMJs were quantified. Initial innervation patterns were assessed using whole-mount immunostaining of embryonic day (E)13.5 embryos expressing IslMN:GFP. Results: Adult albino EOMs display an increased proportion of slow myofibers, larger slow myofibers, and a decreased density of NMJs-similar to human nystagmus patients. The percentage of NMJs on slow myofibers is also lower in albino animals. The initial innervation pattern of the incoming ocular motor neurons is normal in E13.5 albino embryos. Differences in the proportion of slow and fast myofiber subtypes are present as early as P14, and a lower percentage of NMJs on slow myofibers is present by P21. There is a lower density of NMJs on albino EOMs as early as P10, prior to eye opening. Conclusions: Changes in NMJ development observed before eye opening indicate that nystagmus is not solely secondary to poor vision.
Vingopoulos F, Kasetty M, Garg I, Silverman RF, Katz R, Vasan RA, Lorch AC, Luo ZK, Miller JB.
Active Learning to Characterize the Full Contrast Sensitivity Function in Cataracts. Clin Ophthalmol 2022;16:3109-3118.
AbstractBackground: To characterize contrast sensitivity function (CSF) in cataractous and pseudophakic eyes compared to healthy control eyes using a novel quantitative CSF test with active learning algorithms. Methods: This is a prospective observational study at an academic medical center. CSF was measured in eyes with visually significant cataract, at least 2+ nuclear sclerosis (NS) and visual acuity (VA) ≥ 20/50, in pseudophakic eyes and in healthy controls with no more than 1+ NS and no visual complaints, using the Manifold Contrast Vision Meter. Outcomes included Area under the Log CSF (AULCSF) and CS thresholds at 1, 1.5, 3, 6, 12, and 18 cycles per degree (cpd). A subgroup analysis as performed on cataract eyes with VA ≥ 20/25. Results: A total of 167 eyes were included, 58 eyes in the cataract group, 77 controls, and 32 pseudophakic eyes with respective median AULCSF of 1.053 (0.352) vs 1.228 (0.318) vs 1.256 (0.360). In our multivariate regression model, cataract was associated with significantly reduced AULCSF (P= 0.04, β= -0.11) and contrast threshold at 6 cpd (P= 0.01, β= -0.16) compared to controls. Contrast threshold at 6 cpd was significantly reduced even in the subgroup of cataractous eyes with VA ≥ 20/25 (P=0.02, β=-0.16). Conclusion: The novel qCSF test detected disproportionate significant contrast deficits at 6 cpd in cataract eyes; this remained significant even in the cataractous eyes with VA ≥ 20/25. CSF testing may enhance cataract evaluation and surgical decision-making, particularly in patients with subjective visual complaints despite good VA.