BACKGROUND/AIMS: To assess 24 pro-inflammatory cytokines in the aqueous and serum of normal patients without diabetes.

METHODS

94 consecutive eyes of 94 patients undergoing elective vitrectomy surgery were prospectively enrolled. Blood and aqueous sampling were done in the operating room. A microparticle bead-based multiplex assay was used to measure aqueous and serum levels of: fibroblast growth factor-2, eotaxin, granulocyte colony stimulating factor (G-CSF), FMS-like tyrosine kinase 3 ligand (FLT-3L), growth-regulated alpha protein (GROa), interleukin (IL)-10, monocyte chemotactic protein (MCP)-3, macrophage-derived chemokine (MDC), soluble CD40L (sCD40L), IL-17A, interleukin-1 receptor antagonist (IL-1RA), IL-1β, IL-2, IL-4, IL-6, IL-8, interferon gamma-induced protein 10 (IP-10), MCP-1, macrophage inflammatory protein-1β, tumour necrosis factor-α, vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF), regulated on activation normal T expressed and secreted (RANTES), platelet-derived growth factor (PDGF)-AA and PDGF-AB/BB.

RESULTS

A significant positive correlation between aqueous and serum levels was observed for FLT-3L (r=0.45; p<0.001) and positive trends were observed for eotaxin (r=0.27; p=0.04), MDC (r=0.34; p<0.01) and RANTES (r=0.33; p=0.007). There were no significant differences observed based on age or gender. In contrast, aqueous cytokine levels for G-CSF, GROa and MCP-1 were significantly higher in pseudophakic eyes compared with phakic eyes: G-CSF (16.52 pg/mL±22.39 vs 2.77 pg/mL±6.80, p0.0001), GROa (12.45 pg/mL±6.54 vs 8.26 pg/mL±5.48, p0.001) and MCP-1 (1340.51 pg/mL±565.21 vs 830.44 pg/mL±454.36, p<0.0001), respectively.

CONCLUSIONS

We report the first characterisation of 24 different pro-inflammatory cytokines in 94 patients without diabetes. The absence of the crystalline lens was associated with significantly higher aqueous levels of G-CSF, GROa and MCP-1.

TRIAL REGISTRATION NUMBER

NCT04505566.