Abstract
Purpose :
Lipid mediators of inflammation have been proposed to be involved in pathogenesis of contact lens discomfort (CLD). To our knowledge, very few studies have looked at these mediators in CLD. The purpose of this work was to compare the concentration of prostaglandin E2 (PGE2), leukotriene B4 (LTB4) and malondialdehyde (MDA) in tears of contact lens (CL) wearers with and without discomfort.
Methods :
Twenty contact lens wearers with discomfort and 20 without discomfort were enrolled (n = 40). A total of 30 microliters of basal tears were collected from both eyes of each subject and pooled. Ten microliters each were used for plate-based assays of PGE2, LTB4 and MDA. Competitive enzyme linked immunosorbent assays (ELISAs) were used to quantify PGE2 and LTB4 concentration in tears. Similarly, thiobarbituric acid reactive substances (TBARS) assay was used to quantify MDA concentration in tears. Concentration of the three lipid inflammatory mediators was compared between CL wearers with and without discomfort using Mann-Whitney U test. The concentration of the three lipid inflammatory mediators was correlated with contact lens dry eye questionnaire (CLDEQ) index scores using Spearman’s correlation.
Results :
The median PGE2 concentration in tears of CL wearers with discomfort was 0.70 (IQR = 0.20 – 8333.50) fg/ml and in CL wearers without discomfort was 25.09 (IQR = 0.79 - 17959.97) fg/ml (p = 0.09). The median LTB4 concentration in tears of CL wearers with discomfort was 1788.42 (IQR = 29.42 – 37003.03) fg/ml and in CL wearers without discomfort was 21.88 (IQR = 0.16 – 1151.94) fg/ml (p = 0.02). The median MDA concentration in tears of CL wearers with discomfort was 170473.03 (IQR = 155944.08 – 223745.85) pg/ml and in CL wearers without discomfort was 154975.48 (IQR = 137540.74 – 192750.75) pg/ml (p = 0.16). There was no significant correlation between CLDEQ index scores and concentrations of PGE2 (r = - 0.28, p = 0.07), LTB4 (r = 0.22, p = 0.15) and MDA (r = 0.22, p = 0.16).
Conclusions :
The results indicate that sub-clinical inflammation may be present in contact lens discomfort. LTB4 concentration could possibly be considered a biomarker for CL discomfort with further validation.
This is an abstract that was submitted for the 2018 ARVO Annual Meeting, held in Honolulu, Hawaii, April 29 - May 3, 2018.