FEATURES OF THE CONTENT OF PROINFLAMMATORY CYTOKINES IN LACRIMAL AND INTRAOCULAR FLUID IN PATIENTS WITH PRIMARY OPEN-ANGLE GLAUCOMA

Abstract

Purpose: to study the content of proinflammatory cytokines IL-6, IL-8 and IL-17 in lacrimal and intraocular fluid in patients with advanced stage of primary open-angle glaucoma. Material and methods. The study included 56 patients with advanced stage diagnosis of primary open-angle glaucoma (POAG). The diagnosis was determined by ophthalmological examination, including visual acuity, binocular ophthalmoscopy, spheroperimetry, echoophthalmography, optical coherence tomography, intraocular pressure measurement. The number of men was 21 (37.5 %), women - 35 (62.5 %), the average age of patients was 62.8 ± 4.3 years. Exclusion criteria were acute and exacerbation of chronic inflammatory diseases of the organ of vision, diabetic retinopathy, neovascular glaucoma, uveitis, hemophthalmia, autoimmune and tumor processes of any localization, as well as acute and exacerbations of chronic inflammatory diseases of any organs and systems. Patients who took drugs containing prostaglandins analogues for intraocular pressure normalization, that could activate the inflammatory process, were excluded from the study. A comparison group was composed of 30 patients with the uncomplicated cataract diagnosis. All patients underwent the determination of IL-6, IL-8, IL-17 in the lacrimal and intraocular fluid. Results. It has been established that the significant increase in the concentrations of IL-6, IL-8 and IL-17A in the lacrimal and intraocular fluid was revealed in patients with advanced stage of POAG in comparison with those obtained in patients with uncomplicated cataracts. The obtained data testify to the presence of local destructive-inflammatory process in the mechanisms of the development of primary open-angle glaucoma. The revealed unidirectional change in the concentrations of IL-6 (2.8 times the lacrimal fluid and 5.2 times in the intraocular fluid), IL-8 (1.5 times in the lacrimal fluid and 4 times in the aqueous humor), IL-17 (1.75 times in lacrimal fluid and 1.95 times in the intraocular fluid) allows us to conclude that lacrimal fluid can be used to assess changes in cytokine content in the pathogenesis of ophthalmic diseases.

Keywords

• primary open-angle glaucoma
• pro-inflammatory cytokines
• intraocular fluid
• lacrimal fluid