Abstract
Purpose :
To investigate the relationship between the intraocular levels of inflammatory factors and myopia-related retinal neuronal and vascular degeneration.
Methods :
147 patients with Implantable Collamer Lens (ICL) implantation were enrolled in this study. All participants received comprehensive ophthalmic examination. 100~150 ul of aqueous humour were collected immediately before ICL surgery. The levels of inflammatory factors including Aggrecan, April, BAFF, CCL5, CD163, Chi3l1, gp130, IL-6Rα, IL-8, IL-10, IL-11, IL-12, IL-19, IL-27, IL-28A, IL-34, IFN-β, IFN-γ, MMP-1, MMP-2, MMP-3 and PTX3 in the aqueous humour were measured using the Luminex Multiplexing system.
Results :
The aqueous humour levels of pro-inflammatory factors Chi3l1, IL-6Rα, IL-8, IL-12, IL-27, inflammation-related cytokines April and BAFF were significantly higher in high-myopic eyes compared to those in low-myopic eyes. While anti-inflammatory factors IL-10, IL-11, IL-28, inflammation-related cytokines Aggrecan and IL-34 were significantly lower in high-myopic eyes compared to those in low-myopic eyes. Correlation analysis showed that the intraocular levels of Chi3l1, IL-6Rα, IL-8, IL-27 and BAFF were negatively correlated with retinal vascular density. The intraocular levels of IL-27 and IL-6Rα were negative correlated with retinal neuronal thickness. While the levels of Aggrecan were positively correlated with the retinal neuronal thickness. Protein-Protein Interaction analysis revealed that Chi3l1 and Aggrecan were the upstream cytokines that affect IL-10 and IL-8 in the pathological myopic eyes. KEGG pathway analysis showed that cytokine-cytokine receptor interaction, JAK-STAT signaling pathway, rheumatoid arthritis and chagas disease were influenced by these altered inflammatory factors (adjusted p-value<0.001). In animal study, the expressions of Aggrecan, BAFF, Chi3l1, IL-27, and PTX3 in the guinea pig FDM retinae were significantly higher compared to control retina, while the expression of IL-6r was reduced in FDM eyes compared to the controls.
Conclusions :
The levels of intraocular inflammatory factors are altered with the progression of myopia. We found intraocular inflammation with elevated pro-inflammatory factors and reduced anti-inflammatory factors were associated with the microvascular degeneration in the optic nerve and deep retinal neurons in the macula of myopic retinopathy.
This abstract was presented at the 2024 ARVO Annual Meeting, held in Seattle, WA, May 5-9, 2024.