Dr. Natasha Phuja, P16722, Dr.Smruti Savale, Dr. Rohit Shetty, Dr. Anupam Sharma
Keratoconus (KC) is a common dystrophy of the cornea causing stromal thinning and astigmatism resulting in loss of visual acuity. The etiology of KC is poorly understood, and factors driving ectasia still remain unclear. However, atopy, eye rubbing, inflammatory factors, and hard contact lenses have been associated with KC. Previous reports suggest that progression of KC could be related to allergy or oxidative stress. Recent clinical reports on KC have suggested that its pathogenesis involves inflammatory mediators and matrix degrading proteins. However, currently, it is not clear whether these proteins are the major factors driving ectasia. To better understand the molecular regulation of inflammatory markers and its role in pathogenesis of progressive KC in a cohort of Indian patients, we evaluated the levels of proinflammatory factors.
AIM:
To understand the role of inflammatory responses in progressive keratoconus patients as compared to stable keratoconus
METHOD:
After a written informed consent the patients were included in the prospective study. The study was approved by the Ethics Committee of institutional review board and was conducted in accordance with guidelines of the Declaration of Helsinki. The study was designed to evaluate the differences in the level of tear cytokines/chemokines in progressive vs stable keratoconus. Twenty two patients with progressive keratoconus and 15 patients with stable keratoconus documented over 1 year based on Pentacam were included in the study. Tear fluid collected using Schirmer strips during the visits were used to measure various inflammatory factors such as cytokines and chemokines using flow cytometry based cytokine bead array
RESULT:
Increased inflammatory factors including IL-1β, IL-17 and MMPs were found in tears of patients with progressive as compared to stable keratoconus
CONCLUSION:
Aberrant inflammation could be driving progression in keratoconus. Hence, means to reduce the inflammation by Cyclosporin A or other anti-inflammatory agents can be a beneficial in its management