PhD defence D.P.C. (Daphne) Vergouwen

Brief summary on the aim of the doctoral thesis:

Scleritis is a severe and extremely painful inflammation of the outer coat of the eye, commonly leading to visual-threatening complications. The pathogenesis of scleritis is suggested to be immune-mediated. However, the exact immunological cells and substances involved remain unclear, and research into this topic has been scarce so far. In the clinic, this lack of information complicates the clinical management of scleritis, currently leaving doctors and patients in the dark about their future prognosis. 

The work presented in this thesis aims to increase our knowledge of the pathogenesis of non-infectious scleritis, specifically its immunological origin. Also, the work aims to address and evaluate current difficulties in the clinical management of patients with scleritis. To fulfill these aims we prospectively collected a national cohort of scleritis patients in the period of 2020 to 2022 within 5 Dutch University Medical Centers. In addition, we included healthy controls and relevant disease controls, i.e. uveitis and rheumatoid arthritis (RA) patients. From all included subjects relevant clinical data and biological material was obtained, including scarcely available ocular tissue samples affected by scleritis. Lastly, we prospectively collected optical coherence tomography (OCT) scans of the anterior sclera of healthy individuals of various ages.