Purpose

To evaluate the correlation between tear fluid and aqueous humor (AqH) cytokine levels in eyes with bullous keratopathy (BK) and with normal endothelium.

Methods

This prospective consecutive case-series study included 71 eyes of 71 patients: 31 eyes with BK, 18 eyes with non-BK corneal diseases, and 22 eyes with uncomplicated cataract (healthy controls). Total protein and cytokine (interleukin [IL]-1α, IL-1β, IL-4, IL-6, IL-8, IL-10, MIP-1α, MIP-1β, monocyte chemotactic protein [MCP]-1, E-selectin, P-selectin, soluble intercellular adhesion molecule [sICAM]-1, and IP-10) levels in the tear fluid and AqH were measured using multiplex beads immunoassay. The correlations between tear and AqH cytokine levels were assessed.

Results

The AqH protein level was significantly higher in BK eyes (1.09 ± 0.08 mg/mL) than in non-BK (0.63 ± 0.11, P = 0.0004) and healthy control (0.62 ± 0.06, P = 0.0002) eyes. The tear total protein and IL-4 levels were significantly higher in the BK group compared to healthy controls (P = 0.0374 and 0.0032, respectively). The AqH IL-8 and sICAM-1 levels were significantly higher in the BK group compared to controls (P = 0.0001 and 0.0083, respectively). In BK eyes, the tear IL-4 level was significantly correlated with the MCP-1(r = 0.563, P = 0.001) and total protein (r = 0.589, P = 0.001) AqH levels. The tear IL-8 level was significantly correlated with the MCP-1(r = 0.598, p = 0.001) and IL-4 (r = 0.781, p < 0.0001) AqH levels in BK eyes. However, no significant correlations were found between tear and AqH cytokine levels in non-BK and healthy controls eyes.

Conclusions

The tear cytokine levels are correlated with those of AqH only in BK, but not in non-BK and healthy controls.

中文翻译：

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大疱性角膜病变中泪液与房水细胞因子水平的相关性。

目的

为了评估大疱性角膜病变（BK）和正常内皮细胞眼中泪液与房水（AqH）细胞因子水平之间的相关性。

方法

这项前瞻性连续病例系列研究包括71例患者的71眼：31眼BK，18眼非BK角膜疾病和22眼单纯白内障（健康对照）。总蛋白和细胞因子（白介素[IL]-1α，IL-1β，IL-4，IL-6，IL-8，IL-10，MIP-1α，MIP-1β，单核细胞趋化蛋白[MCP] -1，E使用多重磁珠免疫测定法测量了泪液和AqH中的-selectin，P-selectin，可溶性细胞间粘附分子[sICAM] -1和IP-10）水平。评估了泪液和AqH细胞因子水平之间的相关性。

结果

BK眼（1.09±0.08 mg / mL）的AqH蛋白水平显着高于非BK眼（0.63±0.11，P = 0.0004）和健康对照（0.62±0.06，P = 0.0002）。与健康对照组相比，BK组的泪液总蛋白和IL-4水平明显更高（分别为P = 0.0374和0.0032）。与对照组相比，BK组的AqH IL-8和sICAM-1水平显着更高（分别为P = 0.0001和0.0083）。在BK眼中，泪液IL-4水平与MCP-1（r = 0.563，P = 0.001）和总蛋白（r = 0.589，P = 0.001）AqH水平显着相关。BK眼中泪液IL-8水平与MCP-1（r = 0.598，p = 0.001）和IL-4（r = 0.781，p <0.0001）显着相关。然而，

结论

仅在BK中，泪液细胞因子水平与AqH的水平相关，而在非BK和健康对照组中，泪液细胞因子的水平与AqH相关。