Innate Immune Cytokine Levels in Eyes With Late Endothelial Keratoplasty Failure

Abstract

The aim of this study was to compare aqueous humor cytokine levels in eyes with an initial endothelial keratoplasty (EK) that cleared and later decompensated versus control eyes. Methods:In this prospective case-control study, aqueous humor samples were collected under sterile conditions at the start of planned cataract or EK surgery in normal controls (n = 10), Fuchs dystrophy controls with no previous surgery (n = 10) or previous cataract surgery only (n = 10), eyes with Descemet membrane EK (DMEK) endothelial decompensation (n = 5), and eyes with Descemet stripping EK (DSEK) endothelial decompensation (n = 9). Cytokine levels were quantified with the LUNARIS Human 11-Plex Cytokine Kit and compared using the Kruskal-Wallis nonparametric test and post hoc Wilcoxon pairwise 2-sided multiple comparison test.Results: Levels of granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor, interferon gamma, interleukin (IL)-1b, IL-2, IL-4, IL-5, IL-10, IL-12p70, and tumor necrosis factora did not differ significantly between groups. However, IL-6 was significantly increased in DSEK regraft eyes versus controls without previous ocular surgery. IL-8 was significantly increased in eyes with previous cataract or EK surgery versus eyes without previous surgery, and IL-8 was significantly increased in DSEK regraft eyes versus eyes with previous cataract surgery. Conclusions:The levels of innate immune cytokines IL-6 and IL-8 were elevated in the aqueous humor of eyes with failed DSEK, but not with failed DMEK. The differences between DSEK and DMEK may be related to the lower inherent immunogenicity of DMEK grafts and/or the more advanced stage of some of the DSEK graft failures at the time of diagnosis and treatment.

Selective Upregulation of Interleukin 1 Receptor Antagonist and Interleukin-8 in Fuchs’ Endothelial Corneal Dystrophy with Accompanying Cataract

“…The analysis was designed to verify the hypothesis that independent variables affect the concentration of cytokines, for which levels were found to be statistically significant differences between the study groups (FECD + cataract vs. control/cataract). The study sample size was calculated based on the means and standard deviations reported in the paper by Price et al [22]. The accepted level of significance was set as p ≤ 0.05, with a wanted power of 90%.…”