Bench to bedside: new approaches to the immunotherapy of uveitic disease.

Intraocular inflammatory disease, or uveitis, appears to be due in large part to non-infectious, cell-mediated mechanisms. Experimental autoimmune uveitis (EAU) has been a valuable tool to better understand underlying mechanisms of this disorder, and it provides the possibility to evaluate new approaches to immunotherapy as well. Two approaches described here are oral tolerance and anti-IL2 receptor therapy. Both therapies were evaluated in the animal model and showed positive therapeutic effects. Based on these observations, both approaches were used in the treatment of patients with uveitis. Oral tolerance showed initial promising results. Anti-IL2 receptor therapy has been used for over 4 years in uveitis patients with an additional study evaluating this therapy in Behçet's disease. Future plans are to expand this approach to a larger number of patients. The use of animal models has been very useful in better understanding mechanisms of ocular disease and bringing new therapeutic approaches to the clinic.