AIM: To study the diagnostic value of gene rearrangement detection combined with vitreous fluid interleukin-10(IL-10)and interleukin-6(IL-6)cytokine detection for primary intraocular lymphoma(PIOL).

METHODS: A total of 27 patients with suspected PIOL who were admitted to the hospital between January 2015 and December 2019 were enrolled in this study according to the inclusion and exclusion criteria. Totally 21 cases of PIOL and 6 cases of uveitis were diagnosed by pathological examination of diagnostic vitrectomy. Results of gene rearrangement and cytokine levels were retrospectively analyzed. Receiver operating characteristic(ROC)curves were used to analyze the diagnostic value of gene rearrangement, cytokines detection and the combination of the two in PIOL.

RESULTS: Of the 21 patients with PIOL, 15 had IhH FR2 monoclonal rearrangement, with a positive rate of 71%(15/21), and 4 were detected with TCRG clonal gene rearrangement. ROC curve analysis showed that the area under the curve(AUC)of gene rearrangement for diagnosis of PIOL was 0.857. Its sensitivity and specificity were 71.43% and 100.00%. Patients with PIOL had significantly higher vitreous humor IL-10 and IL-10/IL-6 levels than those with uveitis, but no statistically significant difference was found in the IL-6 level between the two groups(P>0.05). ROC curve analysis showed that the AUC of IL-10 was the highest for diagnosis of PIOL. With 170.90pg/mL as the cut-off value, its sensitivity and specificity of IL-10 in diagnosing PIOL were 66.67% and 100.00%, respectively. With 1.95 as the cut-off value, the sensitivity and specificity of IL-10/IL-6 ratio in diagnosing PIOL were 52.40% and 100.00%. The AUC, sensitivity and specificity of gene rearrangement combined with cytokines detection in diagnosing PIOL were 0.893, 95.24% and 83.33%, respectively.

CONCLUSION: The sensitivity of gene rearrangement alone is poor in diagnosing PIOL. Combined use of cytokines detection can improve the diagnostic sensitivity and specificity.