Behçet’s Disease: Autoimmune or Autoinflammatory?

Behçet’s disease (BD) is a systemic inflammatory disease characterized by recurrent oral aphthae, genital ulcers, ocular inflammation and skin lesions. Involvement of large vessels, central nervous system, and gastrointestinal tract, and thrombotic events are less frequent but can be life threatening. Ocular complications of BD are some of the most devastating for patients with a major impact on quality of life. Eye involvement, which affects 50-90% of BD patients, is characterized by intraocular inflammation and occlusive retinal vasculitis.1 The etiology of BD is still unknown, but both genetic background and environmental factors are thought to be important in its pathogenesis.