The Effect of Blue Light Exposure and Use of Intraocular Lenses on Human Uveal Melanoma Cell Lines

Abstract

Abstract: : Purpose: There is contradictory evidence regarding the effect of UV light exposure on the incidence of uveal melanoma (UM). However little is known about the effect of blue light on inducing melanocytic malignant transformation. We proposed to investigate the effect of blue light, in the range of 475 nm wavelength, on the proliferation rates of uveal melanoma cells. In addition, we tested two different intraocular lenses (IOLs) to determine the possible effect of UV absorbing and blue light filtering IOLs on these changes in proliferation. Methods: Four human UM cell lines (92.1, MKT–BR, OCM–1, SP6.5) were exposed to blue light for 3 hours per day for 4 days with and without the presence of UV absorbing and blue light filtering intraocular lenses. Cells covered by aluminium foil were used as a control. The proliferation rate of the cells compared to a control was then assessed using the Sulforhodamine–B proliferation assay. The Student's t–test was used to compare results for statistical significance. Results: Cells exposed to blue light showed a statistically significant (p < 0.05) increase in proliferation. Those exposed to blue light through a standard intraocular lens showed a smaller increase in proliferation, while those exposed with a blue light filtering intraocular lens showed no increase in proliferation over the control in 3 out of the 4 cell lines. Conclusions: The exposure of cells to blue light led to an increase in proliferation in all cell lines compared to the control. The use of blue light filtering IOLs abolished these increases in proliferation in three out of the four cell lines. These results indicate that this new generation of blue light filtering intraocular lenses may be recommended for use in adult patients submitted to cataract surgery.

Keywords: melanoma • pathology: human