Abstract
Purpose :
To investigate the tear cytokine profile in a Scandinavian cohort of congenital aniridia in a case-control study, and to examine the correlation between cytokine levels and ophthalmological findings.
Methods :
Thirty-five patients with congenital aniridia and 21 healthy controls were examined. Tear fluid was collected using Schirmer I test and capillary tubes, and the concentration of 27 human cytokines was determined in the fluid from both eyes separately employing a multiplex bead assay. All participants also underwent an extensive ophthalmological examination including systematic slit-lamp biomicroscopy, measurement of tear production and ocular surface staining, and evaluation of meibomian glands (meibography). Differences in cytokine levels between the two groups were analysed, and correlations between levels in the aniridia group and ophthalmological findings were calculated.
Results :
Significantly elevated concentrations were shown for 16 cytokines in tear fluid from both right and left eyes of aniridia patients compared to the controls. These 16 were: interleukin 1ß (IL-1ß), IL-4, IL-6, IL-9, IL-12p70, IL-13, IL-15, IL-17A, eotaxin, basic fibroblast growth factor (basic FGF), granulocyte colony-stimulating factor (G-CSF), interferon gamma (IFN-γ), monocyte chemoattractant protein 1 (MCP-1), macrophage inflammatory protein 1α (MIP-1α), and MIP-1ß. Interestingly, IL-1ß and IL-6, which are suggested to play a role in dry eye disease (DED), demonstrated a substantial increase in concentration in the anridia group compared to the control group (IL-1ß: 20.3 pg/ml vs 0.7, p<0.001; IL-6: 6.5 pg/ml vs 1.7, p=0.001). The level of interferon gamma-induced protein 10 (IP-10) and regulated-on-activation, normal T cell expressed and secreted (RANTES) correlated significantly with stage of aniridic keratopathy (R=-0.451, p=0.018 and R=0.435, p=0.023, respectively).
Conclusions :
Tear fluid of aniridia patients demonstrated significantly elevated levels of several cytokines related to inflammation compared to control individuals, and a moderate correlation between aniridic keratopathy and concentrations of IP-10 and RANTES was found. Increased inflammation of the ocular surface may be a contributory factor explaining previous reports of high prevalence of dry eye disease in aniridia patients.
This is an abstract that was submitted for the 2017 ARVO Annual Meeting, held in Baltimore, MD, May 7-11, 2017.