Abstract
Abstract: :
Purpose: Chemokine's role in host defense responses has attracted much attention in last decades. Besides its involvement in migration of inflammatory cells, well-known function as trafficking of leukocytes, more fundamental homeostatic role in the immune system has been unveiled recently. The former chemokines are classified as "inflammatory chemokines", while, the latter as "homeostatic chemokines". Although prior studies on the HSV-1 infected cornea have reported increased expression of some of the inflammatory chemokines, none has investigated homeostatic chemokine expression. In the present study, we analyzed the changes of 28 chemokines including inflammatory and homeostatic chemokines in the HSV-1 infected cornea and its surrounding tissues. Method: Eight-week old female BALB/C mice were inoculated with 10 ml of HSV-1 strain (CHR3 106 ml/ml) onto the scarified corneas. Total cellular RNAs from the cornea and surrounding tissues (conjunctiva, trigeminal ganglia, lymph nodes) were sampled at pre-, 3 days and 7 days postinoculation (P.I.). Changes of 28 chemokines in them were analyzed by semi-quantitative RT-PCR method. Results: Chemokines associated with Th1 response (IP-10, Mig, MIP-1a, b and RANTES) were elevated at day 3 P.I. in all samples. Some of homeostatic chemokines (SLC, ELC, BLC) and inflammatory ones (MCP-1,2,3,5) were reduced at day 3 P.I. in the draining lymph nodes. On the contrary, these chemokines were upregulated in other tissues. Th2-specific chemokines did not show any noticeable alteration except eotaxin, which raised to its peak at 3 days P.I. in all tissues. Specific expression of TECK in the normal conjunctiva fell down after HSV-1 inoculation, while, KC in the infected cornea was upregulated. Conclusion: Chemokines mobilized dramatically in the HSV-1 infected cornea and other associated tissues such as the conjunctiva, trigeminal ganglia, and lymph nodes. The changes of these chemokines during the corneal herpes infection will help to develop a new therapy on this disease in the future.
Keywords: 437 inflammation • 370 cornea: basic science • 425 herpes simplex virus