Department of Ophthalmology, New Zealand National Eye Centre, Faculty of Medical and Health Sciences, University of Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand.
Ocul Immunol Inflamm. 2022 Jan 2;30(1):246-255. doi: 10.1080/09273948.2020.1780271. Epub 2020 Aug 13.
Keratoconus is considered a non-inflammatory condition. Recently however, increased proinflammatory cytokines have been detected in the tears of keratoconic patients and clinical and immunohistochemical observations reported infiltration of matured dendritic cells and leukocytes. Our laboratory utilized cytokine antibody arrays to elucidate the inflammatory aspects of keratoconus.
Protein was extracted from 42 corneal buttons (14 keratoconic and 28 non-keratoconic) and incubated with cytokine antibody arrays scanning 120 cytokines. Mann Whitney U test with a -value of <0.05 was considered significant.
Pathways for wound healing, neuroprotection, angiogenesis, and inflammation were activated in keratoconic samples with 23 cytokines showing significant elevation. Fifteen were expressed only in keratoconus with 8 cytokines elevated 1.7-42-fold.
This study identified elevated inflammatory pathways covering immune responses in keratoconus. Our results support the evidence for inflammatory pathway activation in keratoconus and a possible redefinition of keratoconus as a chronic inflammatory corneal disease.
圆锥角膜被认为是一种非炎症性疾病。然而，最近在圆锥角膜患者的泪液中检测到了促炎细胞因子，并且临床和免疫组织化学观察报道了成熟树突状细胞和白细胞的浸润。我们的实验室利用细胞因子抗体阵列来阐明圆锥角膜的炎症方面。
从 42 个角膜纽扣（14 个圆锥角膜和 28 个非圆锥角膜）中提取蛋白质，并与细胞因子抗体阵列孵育，扫描 120 种细胞因子。具有 - 值 <0.05 的曼惠特尼 U 检验被认为是显著的。
伤口愈合、神经保护、血管生成和炎症途径在圆锥角膜样本中被激活，有 23 种细胞因子显示出明显升高。其中 15 种仅在圆锥角膜中表达，其中 8 种细胞因子升高 1.7-42 倍。
本研究确定了在圆锥角膜中升高的炎症途径，涵盖了免疫反应。我们的结果支持圆锥角膜中炎症途径激活的证据，并可能将圆锥角膜重新定义为一种慢性炎症性角膜疾病。
