巩膜炎是一种严重的眼部炎症性疾病，其发病机制尚不明确。我们采用质谱法研究健康巩膜和受非传染性巩膜炎影响的巩膜中差异表达的蛋白质。我们收集了三例因患有严重的非传染性巩膜炎而摘除的眼球组织样本，五例对照组的巩膜组织样本，四例由于眼睑癌症（n = 4）或脉络膜黑色素瘤（n = 1）而摘除的眼球组织样本，但不具有巩膜侵犯。样本被制备成纳米液相色谱质谱仪（LC-MS）可用的形式，数据使用蛋白质组学软件（Scaffold）进行分析，可通过ProteomeXchange（标识符PXD038727）获得。样本还进行了免疫组织病理学评估的染色。质谱法在健康和患病的巩膜组织中检测到了629种蛋白质，其中胶原蛋白类型XII、VI和I是最丰富的蛋白质。胶原蛋白类型II-XII也存在于其中。在巩膜炎患者中，所有病例中都发现了角质蛋白-2的上调表达，该蛋白在表皮屏障功能中发挥关键作用。此外，其他上皮相关蛋白质也被上调（例如角蛋白33b、34和85、表皮桥蛋白、转谷氨酰胺酶3、半乳糖凝集素7和半胱氨酸蛋白酶-14在巩膜炎中）等。此外，在我们的研究中还发现了调节细胞骨架的上调蛋白质（vinculin和肌球蛋白9）和常见蛋白质（延长因子-2和细胞质动力蛋白1）。我们的研究证实了角质蛋白-2和肌球蛋白9的上调表达，后者蛋白与内皮细胞标记ETC相关基因（ERG）进行了共定位，表明巩膜组织出现了新血管生成。我们发现非传染性巩膜炎患者巩膜组织中存在角质蛋白-2的上调表达以及新血管生成的迹象。需要进一步研究并包括更多的巩膜炎病例来验证我们的发现。

Scleritis is a severe inflammatory ocular disorder with unknown pathogenesis. We investigated healthy sclera as well as sclera affected by noninfectious scleritis for differentially expressed proteins using a mass spectrometry approach.We collected scleral samples of enucleated eyes due to severe noninfectious scleritis (n = 3), and control scleral tissues (n = 5), all exenterated eyes for eyelid carcinomas (n = 4), or choroidal melanoma (n = 1) without scleral invasion. Samples were prepared for the nano liquid-chromatography mass spectrometer (LC-MS), data were analyzed using proteomics software (Scaffold), and is available via ProteomeXchange (identifier PXD038727). Samples were also stained for immuno-histopathological evaluation.Mass spectrometry identified 629 proteins within the healthy and diseased scleral tissues, whereof collagen type XII, VI, and I were the most abundantly expressed protein. Collagen type II-XII was also present. Filaggrin-2, a protein that plays a crucial role in epidermal barrier function, was found upregulated in all scleritis cases. In addition, other epithelial associated proteins were upregulated (such as keratin 33b, 34, and 85, epiplakin, transglutaminase-3, galectin 7, and caspase-14) in scleritis. Further, upregulated proteins involved in regulation of the cytoskeleton (vinculin and myosin 9), and housekeeping proteins were found (elongation factor-2 and cytoplasmic dynein 1) in our study. Upregulation of filaggrin-2 and myosin-9 was confirmed with immunohistochemistry, the latter protein showing co-localization with the endothelial cell marker ETC-related gene (ERG), indicating neovascularization in scleral tissue affected by scleritis.We found upregulation of filaggrin-2 and signs of neovascularization in scleral tissue of patients with noninfectious scleritis. Further research, ideally including more scleritis cases, is needed to validate our findings.