Data from: Type 1 interferon-inducible gene expression in QuantiFERON Gold TB-positive uveitis: a tool to stratify a high versus low risk of active tuberculosis?

QuantiFERON-Gold TB (QFT)-positive patients with undetermined cause of
uveitis are problematic in terms of whether to diagnose and treat them for
tuberculosis (TB). Here, we investigated whether peripheral blood
expression of type 1 interferon (IFN)-inducible genes may be of use to
stratify QFT-positive patients with uveitis into groups of high versus low
risk of having active TB-associated uveitis. We recruited all new uveitis
patients in Cipto Mangunkusumo Hospital, Jakarta, Indonesia for one year.
We included 12 patients with uveitis and clinically diagnosed active
pulmonary TB, 58 QFT-positive patients with uveitis of unknown cause, 10
newly diagnosed sputum-positive active pulmonary TB patients without
uveitis and 23 QFT-negative healthy controls. Expression of 35 type 1
IFN-inducible genes was measured in peripheral blood cells from active
pulmonary TB patients without uveitis and healthy controls. Differentially
expressed genes were identified and used for further clustering analyses
of the uveitis groups. A type-1 IFN gene signature score was calculated
and the optimal cut-off value for this score to differentiate active
pulmonary TB from healthy controls was determined and applied to
QFT-positive patients with uveitis of unknown cause. Ten type 1
IFN-inducible genes were differentially expressed between active pulmonary
TB and healthy controls. Expression of these 10 genes in QFT-positive
patients with uveitis of unknown cause revealed three groups: 1); patients
resembling active pulmonary TB, 2); patients resembling healthy controls,
and 3); patients displaying an in-between gene expression pattern. A type
1 IFN gene signature score ≥5.61 displayed high sensitivity (100%) and
specificity (91%) for identification of active TB. Application of this
score to QFT-positive patients with uveitis of unknown cause yielded two
groups with expected different likelihood (high vs. low) of having
active-TB uveitis, and therefore may be useful in clinical management
decisions.