Abstract
Purpose :
The mammalian host enzyme, heparanase (HPSE), has been implicated in pathogenesis of viral infections, including herpes simplex virus-1 (HSV), in prior in vitro studies. We hypothesize that HPSE is expressed and will be upregulated in corneal tissues of patients with HSV keratitis compared to corneas of patients with no infection.
Methods :
Formalin-fixed paraffin embedded blocks of corneal specimens from 10 patients with history of HSV infection and 10 patients with no history of infection were obtained from the University of Illinois Biorepository and Pathology archives. Immunohistochemistry using a 1:100 dilution of HPSE antibody (Proteintech, Rosemont, IL) was performed on fixed specimens. The area of positive HPSE staining in square millimeters, percentage of area of positive HPSE staining and average optical density of HPSE positive cells of corneal epithelium and stroma were analyzed.
Results :
In the 20 corneal specimens, the overall mean percentage of positive HPSE staining was 48% in corneal epithelium and 2.2% in corneal stroma. Average optical density of HPSE positive cells was 0.27 in epithelium and 0.07 in stroma.
The mean percentage area of positive HPSE staining in corneal epithelium was 57.2% in HSV infected corneas compared to 40.3% in non-infected corneas (p=0.07). Average optical density of HPSE cells was 0.31 in HSV and 0.23 in non-infected corneas (p=0.06).
The mean percentage area of positive HPSE staining in corneal stroma was 3.0 in HSV and 1.4 in non-infected corneas (p=0.07). Average optical density of HPSE was 0.07 in HSV and 0.06 in non-HSV corneas (p=0.08).
Conclusions :
Heparanase is widely expressed and is upregulated in both epithelium and stromal corneal tissues of HSV infected patients compared to non-infected patients. These findings in human corneal tissues support the role of HPSE in the pathogenesis and use as a potential biomarker and therapeutic target in ocular HSV.
This is an abstract that was submitted for the 2018 ARVO Annual Meeting, held in Honolulu, Hawaii, April 29 - May 3, 2018.