engleski

The Expression of Interleukin-1 alpha, TNF and VEGF in Corneal Cells of Patients with Bullous Keratopathy

Bullous keratopathy (BK) is a chronic corneal edema with or without subepithelial bullae as a result of a loss of the endothelial cells. 15 patients with BK after cataract surgery with intraocular lens implantation, due to Fuchs dystrophy (n=3) or corneal endothelial trauma (n=12) were included in the study. All patients were treated by amniotic membrane transplantation (AMT). Corneal epithelial cells in patients suffering from BK secreted 3.91±3.09 pg/mL of IL-1 alpha, 4446±16.8 pg/mL of TNF and 81.43±37.81 pg/mL of VEGF-I. Levels of all 3 investigated cytokines were significantly higher as compared to controls (p<0.005). Amniotic membranes that were used to treat investigated patients contained 638.98±613.98 pg/mL of IL-1ra, 0.026±0.009 pg/mL of sTNF and 81.39±21.01 pg/mL of VEGF-R. Beneficial clinical effect of the AMT in treating BK could be explained by its natural production of pro-inflammatory cytokine antagonists such as IL-ra, sTNF antagonist and VEGF-R.

Cornea; bullous keratopathy; IL-1; TNF; VEGF

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