Abstract
Purpose: :
To identify soluble cytokine concentrations in tear samples of patients with Sjögren disease, non Sjögren dry eye and healthy subjects.
Methods: :
Patients were classified according to tear film break-up time (BUT) <7 sec, Schirmer II test (ST) <7 mm, symptoms <12 points in a validated questionnaire by Donate, et al. and oral mucosa biopsy or SS-A, SS-B Antibodies in the Sjögren disease patients. We obtained a tear sample of both eyes and performed a quantification of protein concentration. Using the Cytometric Bead Arrays (CBA) Cytokine Detection Kit we performed IL-2, TNF-a, IL-10, IL-4, IL-5 and IFN-g detection in tear samples. Descriptive statistics were performed for demographic variables and T test for identification of differences between groups. P was considered
Results: :
65 patients were included, mean age 44 years (18-83), 37% male (n=24) and 63% female (n=41). Sjögren disease group showed the greatest concentration of TNF-a and IFN-g concentration (p < 0.05). We did not find statistically significant difference between non Sjögren dry eye and healthy subjects.
Conclusions: :
The Sjögren patients showed a higher cytokine concentration of TNF-a and IFN-g. without significant differences in IL-2, TNF-a, IL-10, IL-4 and IL-5. Interesting, Sjögren patients showed the clinically most severe dry eye.Acknowledgments: This work was partially supported by CONACyT 71291 and Conde de Valenciana Foundation
Keywords: cytokines/chemokines • cornea: tears/tear film/dry eye • inflammation