Bone Marrow-Derived Cells Are Present in Mooren’s Ulcer

Abstract

To investigate whether bone marrow-derived cells are present in Mooren’s ulcer and involved in its destructive and regenerative disease course, tissue specimens were collected from 3 eyes of 3 patients with Mooren’s ulcer that underwent lamellar keratectomy. Three normal donor limbal corneoscleras served as controls. Immunohistochemical staining patterns were analyzed by using the following antibodies: CD34 (a marker of hematopoietic progenitor cells and endothelium), c-kit (a marker of hematopoietic and stromal progenitor cells) and STRO-1 (a differentiation antigen present on bone marrow fibroblast cells and on various nonhematopoietic progenitor cells). Strong positive CD34, c-kit and STRO-1 cells were revealed in Mooren’s ulcer specimens, especially in the superficial stroma. A few weakly expressed CD34 stromal cells were seen in normal limbal cornea, but no immunoreactivity for c-kit and STRO-1 was found. Bone marrow-derived cells are present in Mooren’s ulcer and contribute to its destructive and regeneration process by synergizing with other factors. Specific therapeutic strategies that target the role of these cells in Mooren’s ulcer are anticipated.

CD34 + Corneal Stromal Cells Are Bone Marrow–Derived and Express Hemopoietic Stem Cell Markers

“…No CD34 + cells were found in corneal epithelium or endothelium [7]. In addition, CD34 + cells were very recently found in corneas with Mooren's ulcer [8]. Intriguingly, culture of stromal keartocytes is associated with loss of the CD34 marker [9].…”

Amnionmembrantransplantation und hoch dosiertes systemisches Ciclosporin A (Sandimmun optoral®) bei Ulkus Mooren

“…Eine andere chinesische Arbeitsgruppe hat Gewebeproben von drei Patienten mit Ulkus Mooren, die einer lamellären Keratoplastik unterzogen wurden, untersucht und vor allem im oberflächlichen Stroma Zellen gefunden, die stark positiv für die Antikçrper CD 34 und STRO-1 waren. Dies wurde als Hinweis auf die Anwesenheit von hämatopoetischen (CD 34) und nichthämatopoetischen (STRO-1) Vorläuferzellen gedeutet, die mçglicherweise sowohl zum destruktiven wie auch zum regenerativen Prozess bei Ulkus Mooren beitragen [16]. Eine bestimmte Konstellation der HLA-II-Antigene, HLA-DR 17 [3] und/oder HLA-DQ 2, kann auf eine besondere Prädisposition für Ulkus Mooren hinweisen: im Vergleich mit einer ethnisch gematchten Kontrollgruppe war die Frequenz dieser Allele bei 12 Patienten mit Ulkus Mooren statistisch signifikant hçher [3].…”

Clinical Characteristics and Risk Factors of Recurrent Mooren’s Ulcer

“…Mooren's ulcer is the result of an autoimmune process involving cell-mediated and humoral components [17]. Cornea-associated antigen (Co-Ag) has been found in the sera of patients with Mooren's ulcer [18].…”