Vitreous Levels of Hepatocyte Growth Factor Level and Transforming Growth Factor-ß2 in Patients With Proliferative Vitreoretinopathy

Abstract

Abstract: : Purpose: To determine whether the levels of hepatocyte growth factor (HGF) and transforming growth factor-ß₂(TGF-ß₂) are elevated in the vitreous of patients with proliferative vitreoretinopathy (PVR) compared to vitreous samples obtained from patients with other disorders. Methods: Undiluted core vitreous samples, removed during standard pars plana vitrectomy, were obtained from 5 eyes with PVR, 8 eyes with retinal detachment (RD), 6 eyes with macular hole (MH), and 4 eyes with epiretinal membrane (ERM). All patients were non-diabetic. Samples were immediately aliquoted and stored at -70ºC until analysis. HGF and TGF-ß₂ levels in the vitreous were determined by quantitative enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (R & D Systems). Results: HGF levels were elevated in the PVR group (42.1±14.3 ng/ml) vs. RD (9.00±1.57 ng/ml) or MH (7.51±0.92 ng/ml) or ERM (6.23±1.47 ng/ml; one-way ANOVA, P<0.05). TGF-ß₂ levels followed a similar trend with highest levels in the PVR group (4.15±1.69 ng/ml) and lower levels in the RD (3.18±0.55 ng/ml), MH (2.38±0.30 ng/ml) and ERM (2.10±0.34 ng/ml; one-way ANOVA, P=0.268) groups. In several cases, the HGF and TGF-ß₂ levels in individual vitreous samples did not correlate; however, each PVR case demonstrated high HGF and/or high TGF-ß₂ levels. Conclusion: These data confirm the observation that HGF levels are elevated in the vitreous of PVR patients. The poor correlation of HGF and TGF-ß₂ levels in the vitreous from individual patients with PVR is consistent with the hypothesis that HGF and TGF-ß₂ are differentially activated in the pathogenesis of PVR.

Keywords: 524 proliferative vitreoretinopathy • 358 clinical laboratory testing • 423 growth factors/growth factor receptors