Differences in Aqueous Concentrations of Cytokines in Pediatric and Adult patients with Coats’ disease

Abstract

 

Purpose

 

To investigate the differential aqueous concentrations of VEGF and inflammatory cytokines in pediatric and adult patients with Coats’ disease.

 

Methods

 

A total of 19 eyes of 19 patients with Coats’ disease, 11 eyes of 11 pediatric patients, and 8 eyes of 8 adult patients, 6 patients (6 eyes) with congenital cataract and 9 patients (9 eyes) with senile cataract as the control group were examined. Aqueous humor samples were assessed for interleukin 6, 8, 1β (IL-6, IL-8, IL-1β, respectively), basic fibroblast growth factor (bFGF), monocyte chemoattractant protein 1 (MCP1), tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNFα), and vascular endothelia growth factor (VEGF) by multiplex bead assay.

 

Results

 

Significantly higher concentrations of VEGF，TNFα，IL-8，IL-6，IL-1β were found in pediatric patients with Coats’ disease (P=0.002, P=0.026, P=0.036, P=0.008, and P=0.010). Concentration of VEGF in pediatric patients with 3b stage of Coats’ disease was significantly higher than that of 3a stage (P=0.008). In adult patients with Coats’ disease, the aqueous levels of IL-8, IL-6 and IL-1β were significantly higher than that of the controls (P=0.036，P=0.008, and P=0.010). The concentration of IL-6 was significantly associated with the extent of exudative retinal detachment (P=0.02, R²=0.901). Compared with pediatric patients, the VEGF level in the aqueous humor of adult patients was significantly lower (P=0.011).

 

Conclusions

 

Besides VEGF, IL-6 as a major protein involved in Inflammation may be associated with Coats’ disease, especially in adult patients.  

 

Scatterplot showing the association between the aqueous concentration of interleukin 6 (IL-6) and the extent of exudative retinal detachment in adult patients with Coats’ disease, with a statistically significant correlation between both parameters (P=0.02, R²=0.901).