Persistence of Donor Corneal Cells in Successfully Grafted Button After 10 Years of Keratoplsty in Lattice Dystrophy

Abstract

Purpose:: To investigate the survival of donor-derived cells in successfully grafted corneal button after 10 years of keratoplsty in lattice dystrophy.

Methods:: A 48-year old male with lattice corneal dystrophy had undergone penetrating keratoplasty 3 times in his right eye within 3 month-interval in 1996, and underwent 4^th keratoplasty after 9 years and 7 months of previous surgery. We took off epithelium and endothelium first, and dissected the button into five stroma blocks with the size of 2*1.8mm and performed forensic genotyping using 16 markers (1 amelogenin for sex chromosome and 15 autosomal STRs) to investigate survival of donor-derived cells.

Results:: Genotype of the epithelium was identical to that of the recipient’s buccal DNA. However, stroma showed mixed genotypes of the recipient origin and an unidentified origin. Interestingly, the most peripheral block showed identical genotype to that of the recipient, whereas the central one showed unidentified origin only. Other blocks showed mixed genotypes of the recipient and the unidentified.

Conclusions:: Corneal stroma is infiltrated by surrounding recipient- derived keratocyte from the periphery, therefore more donor derived cells would survive at central stroma.

Keywords: cell survival • cornea: stroma and keratocytes • cornea: clinical science