Abstract
Purpose :
Inflammatory corneal hem- and lymphangiogenesis is the major risk factor for immune rejections after penetrating keratoplasty. Semaphorin 3F (Sema3F) has been shown to suppress lymphangiogenesis in several settings. Purpose of this study was to investigate whether the same effect could be achieved by local application of Sema3F.
Methods :
Three interrupted 11-0 nylon sutures were placed into the corneal stroma of BALB/c mice (6 weeks old) and left in place for 14 days to induce neovascularization. The treatment group (n=10) received Sema3F as eye drops three times per day (50µg/drop). Control mice received an equal amount of PBS. For immunohistochemistry, corneal flat mounts were stained with LYVE-1 as a specific lymphatic vascular endothelial marker and CD31 as pan endothelial marker. Morphometry was performed with the image analysis software Cell^F (Olympus, Germany). Additionally, macrophages in the cornea as well as from the draining lymph nodes were analysed.
Results :
Sema3F treated mice showed a significant and specific downregulation of lymphangiogenesis compared with PBS control mice (p<0.001), whereas hemangiogenesis and macrophage frequency was not affected.
Conclusions :
Corneal lymphangiogenesis is significantly impaired by applying Sema3F topically as eye drops. This effect could be exploited to inhibit lymphangiogenesis after corneal transplantation to promote graft survival.
This is an abstract that was submitted for the 2017 ARVO Annual Meeting, held in Baltimore, MD, May 7-11, 2017.