Differential regulation of inflammatory cytokines in cone and periphery corneal tissues of keratoconus patients

Session Details

Session Title: Modarated Poster Session: Hot and New

Session Date/Time: Monday 07/09/2015 | 14:00-15:00

Paper Time: 14:20

Venue: Poster Village: Pod 1

First Author: : N.Pahuja INDIA

Co Author(s): :    R. Shetty   N. Kumar   K. Deshpande   L. Kaweri   V. Vohra   A. Ghosh

Abstract Details

Purpose:

To investigate if the gene expression pattern from the corneal epithelium at the cone of a Keratoconus patient differs from the peripheral epithelium

Setting:

Tertiary care ophthalmic institute in south India

Methods:

Corneal epithelium was collected from Keratoconus patients undergoing corneal collagen crosslinking. A total of 50 KC patients and 12 controls were used in the study. Corneal topography mapping was performed for every patient, based on which about 6mm diameter of the cone was debrided and marked as “cone” while the remainder of the epithelium was debrided around the cone and marked as “periphery”. For Controls, 6mm from the corneal center was used as “cone” and the surrounding as “periphery.” Total RNA was extracted from each sample and subjected to quantitative real-time PCR for analysis of matrix remodeling and inflammatory genes

Results:

We observed that Lysyl Oxidase and Collagen IV expression was reduced in the cone of KC patients compared to controls. MMP9 levels were particularly elevated in the cone compared to the periphery. Inflammatory genes TNFa and IL6 showed intra-patient variability, but on average, a slight elevation in the cone in KC patients. TGF-beta demonstrated a large change in the cone compared to periphery in the KC patients. TIMP1 and IL10 showed slight reductions in the cone in KC

Conclusions:

The results suggest that the KC disease is being driven by deregulated molecular factors in the cone. The data suggests that matrix remodeling factors such as TGF-beta, LOX and MMPs are a central player in this process, while the inflammatory factors, while elevated, may have a secondary driver role in disease pathogenesis. Our study demonstrates that functional correction of the disease should be concentrated at the cone in KC corneas rather than the entire cornea

Financial Interest:

NONE