Abstract
Purpose:
To compare corneal inflammation after syngeneic and allogeneic penetrating keratoplasty (PK) and miniature Keratoprosthesis (m-KPro) implantation.
Methods:
BALB/c (syngeneic) or C57BL/6 (allogeneic) corneas were transplanted onto BALB/c host beds as part of PK or m-KPro implantation. Corneal inflammation was assessed by determining the frequencies of CD45+ leukocytes, CD4+ T cells, CD11b+ dendritic cells, and Gr-1+ granulocytes/monocytes by flow cytometry at 2, 4, and 8 weeks post-transplantation. In addition, expression of the pro-inflammatory cytokines TNFα and IL-1β was analyzed using Real-Time qPCR at 8 weeks post-transplantation.
Results:
Cell frequencies in the syngeneic and allogeneic m-KPro groups were higher compared to the syngeneic and allogeneic PK groups, respectively, at all time points. However, after week four, frequencies of all immune cells were higher in the alloPK group as compared to the synKPro group. The expression of TNFα was higher in synKPro, alloPK, and alloKPro groups compared to the naïve and synPK groups at eight weeks. The expression of IL-1β was significantly higher in both KPro groups as compared to PK groups.
Conclusions:
Although m-KPro device augments the inflammatory response in cornea after its implantation, allogenicity is greater contributor to inflammation. We suggest using syngeneic or decellularized corneal tissue as a Boston-KPro carrier. Results also suggest that after second standard graft failure, B-KPro should have greater likelihood of success than further regraft.