Abstract
Purpose :
Considering that etiopathology of exfoliation syndrome (XFS) is not fully understood and that galectin-3 (Gal-3) represents an important biomarker of ocular diseases, this study evaluates its levels in the aqueous humor and lens capsule of patients with XFS.
Methods :
Samples of aqueous humor from 20 XFS and 10 control eyes were collected during cataract surgery and immediately frozen for ELISA assay. For ultrastructural immunocytochemical analysis, 6 samples (n= 3 XFS; n= 3 controls) of the anterior lens capsule were collected and fixed in the Karnovsky solution. After 24 hours, they were processed and embedded in LRGold resin for Gal-3 immunostaining using immunogold labeling.
Results :
Aqueous humor from XFS patients present elevated levels of Gal-3 (1.66 ± 0.37 ng/ml) compared to control group (0.72 ± 0.15), however no statistical difference was detected between both conditions (p = 0.064) (Figure 1). Ultrastructural analysis of lens capsule showed the presence of Gal-3 in the epithelial cells and extracellular matrix. XFS epithelial cells showed decreased Gal-3 levels compared to control cells (Figure 2).
Conclusions :
Our preliminary results show that abnormalities of the anterior lens capsule from XFS patients were associated with decreased Gal-3 levels and indicate this protein as a new interesting XFS biomarker.Therefore the increase of Gal-3 inside the cells of anterior capsule in the control group and the increase levels of Gal-3 in the aqueous humor of the disease can justified the fragility of the anterior capsule and the zonules.
This is a 2020 ARVO Annual Meeting abstract.