Von Szily-Lecture: Does the microbiome cause uveitis?

The Uveitis Section of the DOG is honouring Professor James T. Rosenbaum (Portland/USA) with the von-Szily Medal for his services on 25 September 2014. In his von-Szily lecture, James Rosenbaum will consider the question of whether the microbiome might trigger uveitis.

HLA B27-associated acute anterior uveitis (AAU) is the most common form of uveitis in Europe and North America. Although HLA B27 markedly increases the risk of developing AAU, the mechanism for this effect is unknown. The microbiome, the collection of microbial organisms that co-habit our bodies, is now implicated in many immune-mediated diseases. The potential for HLA molecules to influence the microbiome and thus predispose to disease is relatively untested. Bacteria are strongly implicated in the pathogenesis of HLA B27-related disease. Jim Rosenbaum will report on laboratory trials actively testing the hypothesis that HLA B27 predisposes to disease via its effect on the microbiome.

The von Szily-Medal is awarded in memory of the renowned ophthalmologist and scientist Aurel von Szily (1886 to 1945). In 1939 Aurel von Szily returned to his native city of Budapest, after the Nazis expelled him in 1935 from the Münster Chair and in 1937 dismissed him as editor of “Klinische Monatsblätter für Augenheilkunde”. Among the most important works of von-Szily was his “Comparative Morphogenesis and Morphography of the Papilla nervi optici”, which unfortunately remained unpublished.

The meeting of the DOG Uveitis Section, held in English under the title “From bedside to bench to beside: Eye and inflammation Symposium”, will take place on 25 September 2014 from 2.30 p.m. to 4.00 p.m. in the multi-purpose area 1.