Signaling lipids as diagnostic biomarkers for ocular surface cicatrizing conjunctivitis

Abstract

Metabolomics has been applied to diagnose diseases, predict disease progression, and design therapeutic strategies in various areas of medicine. However, it remains to be applied to the ocular surface diseases, where biological samples are often of limited quantities. We successfully performed proof-of-concept metabolomics assessment of volume-limited cytology samples from a clinical form of chronic inflammatory cicatrizing conjunctivitis, i.e., ocular MMP and discovered metabolic changes of signaling lipid mediators upon disease onset and progression. The metabolomics assessment revealed active oxylipins, lysophospholipids, fatty acids, and endocannabinoids alterations, from which potential biomarkers linked to inflammatory processes were identified. Possible underlying mechanisms such as dysregulated enzyme activities (e.g., lipoxygenases, cytochrome P450, and phospholipases) were suggested which may be considered as potential therapeutic targets in future studies. Key messages & Metabolic profile of the ocular surface can be measured using impression cytology samples. & Metabolomics analysis of ocular pemphigoid is presented for the first time. & The metabolomics assessment of OCP patients revealed active oxylipins, lysophospholipids, fatty acids, and endocannabinoids alterations. & Several oxylipins are identified as diagnostic biomarkers for OCP.

AS-OCT and Ocular Hygrometer as Innovative Tools in Dry Eye Disease Diagnosis

“…The ocular surface system [13] is a complex morphofunctional unit made of different tissues, such as conjunctiva, cornea, lids and lacrimal glands, and also a complex network of nerves [61,62], hormones [11], immune cells [63] and metabolites [64] that interplay mainly in the tear film [12,65], which acts as the blood flow in the other tissues. Therefore, the status of the tear film is a reflection on the ocular surface system function.…”

Ocular Surface Failure in Urban Syndrome

“…Therefore, the para-inflammatory response may be dysregulated in the self-limiting on-off ability, leading to long-term persistent low-grade chronic inflammation, such as in inflammaging [ 12 , 13 , 14 ], in longstanding diabetes [ 15 ], in chronic cicatrizing conjunctivitis [ 16 ] or in the intensity of the response itself, such as in US.…”

A Microfluidics‐Based Screening Tool to Assess the Impact of Blood Plasma Factors on Microvascular Integrity

“…For metabolite extraction, sample preparation procedure was performed according to the in‐house validated protocol which has been optimized on previously published method [ 47 ] and successfully applied for signaling lipid profiling. [ 48 ] Briefly, plasma samples (150 μL) were added with 5 µL antioxidant solution and 10 µL internal standards. Acidified with citric acid/phosphate buffer (pH 4.5), all samples were then dealt with liquid–liquid extraction with 1 mL of butanol and methyl tert‐butyl ether (1:1 v/v).…”