A review on inflammation cytokines in pathogenesis of keratoconus

Abstract

Keratoconus(KC)is a progressive corneal thinning disease which can cause the conical appearance, scar growth and vision loss via corneal ectasia. Various factors were demonstrated to be related to its etiology, including the genetic factors and the environmental factors(i.e. the friction of eyelids and eyeball, the friction of contact lens and eyeball and the UV irradiation). In addition to the genetic and environmental factors, the inflammation cytokines has been reported as another key factor to the pathogenesis of keratoconus, thus received more attention recently. This paper then reviews the recent advances on the effect of inflammation cytokines on pathogenesis of keratoconus. The motivation of this work is to provide important guidance and thoughts for the treatment of keratoconus.

Keywords

• keratoconus
• inflammation cytokines
• cornea