Shetty Rohit, Deshmukh Rashmi, Ghosh Arkasubhra, Sethu Swaminathan, Jayadev Chaitra
Department of Cornea and Refractive Surgery, Narayana Nethralaya Eye Institute, Bengaluru, Karnataka, India.
GROW Research Lab, Narayana Nethralaya Foundation, Bengaluru, Karnataka, India.
Indian J Ophthalmol. 2017 Nov;65(11):1105-1108. doi: 10.4103/ijo.IJO_233_17.
Conventionally, keratoconus (KC) has been considered a noninflammatory corneal ectatic disorder. Recent evidence suggests a possible role of inflammation in the pathogenesis of KC. Hence, we analyzed the levels of inflammatory factors in the tear fluid of Indian KC patients.
Tear fluid samples were collected from age- and sex-matched healthy controls and KC patients (with different grades). The levels of the inflammatory factors in tears were analyzed using cytometric bead array (Human Soluble Protein Flex Set System, BD Biosciences) for levels of interleukin-1α (IL-1α), IL-1β, IL-2, IL-4, IL-5, IL-6, IL-8, IL-9, IL-10, IL-12p70, IL-23p40, IL-13, IL-17A, IL-17F, IL-21, interferon-α (IFNα), IFNγ, tumor necrosis factor-α, CCL2/monocyte chemotactic protein-1, CCL4/macrophage inflammatory protein-1β (MIP-1β), MIP-1α, CCL5/RANTES, CXCL10/IP10, ICAM1, CD62E, vascular endothelial growth factor and transforming growth factor β.
An increase in Kmax and Kmean, and a decrease in central corneal thickness was observed with increasing grades of KC. Tear analysis showed that most of the tear soluble factors, including cytokines, chemokines, growth factors and cell adhesion molecules were significantly elevated in the KC patients compared to the controls.
Our findings suggest that inflammatory factors associated with KC may play a role in its pathogenesis. This opens the potential to explore anti-inflammatory strategies to either halt or delay the progression of KC.
传统上，圆锥角膜（KC）被认为是一种非炎性角膜扩张性疾病。最近的证据表明炎症在KC的发病机制中可能起作用。因此，我们分析了印度KC患者泪液中炎症因子的水平。
从年龄和性别匹配的健康对照者和KC患者（不同等级）中收集泪液样本。使用细胞计数珠阵列（人类可溶性蛋白Flex Set系统，BD生物科学公司）分析泪液中炎症因子的水平，检测白细胞介素-1α（IL-1α）、IL-1β、IL-2、IL-4、IL-5、IL-6、IL-8、IL-9、IL-10、IL-12p70、IL-23p40、IL-13、IL-17A、IL-17F、IL-21、干扰素-α（IFNα）、IFNγ、肿瘤坏死因子-α、CCL2/单核细胞趋化蛋白-1、CCL4/巨噬细胞炎性蛋白-1β（MIP-1β）、MIP-1α、CCL5/调节激活正常T细胞表达和分泌因子、CXCL10/干扰素γ诱导蛋白10、细胞间黏附分子1、CD62E、血管内皮生长因子和转化生长因子β的水平。
随着KC等级的增加，观察到最大角膜曲率（Kmax）和平均角膜曲率（Kmean）增加，中央角膜厚度减小。泪液分析表明，与对照组相比，KC患者泪液中的大多数可溶性因子，包括细胞因子、趋化因子、生长因子和细胞黏附分子均显著升高。
我们的研究结果表明，与KC相关的炎症因子可能在其发病机制中起作用。这为探索抗炎策略以阻止或延缓KC的进展开辟了可能性。
