Drug Design, Development and Therapy (Jun 2021)
Cytokine and Chemokine Profile Changes in Patients with Neovascular Age-Related Macular Degeneration After Intravitreal Ranibizumab Injection for Choroidal Neovascularization
Abstract
Tingting Sun, 1,* Qingquan Wei, 1,* Peng Gao, 1,* Yongjie Zhang, 2 Qing Peng 1 1Department of Ophthalmology, Shanghai Tenth People’s Hospital, Tongji University, Shanghai, 200072, People’s Republic of China; 2Department of Human Anatomy, Nanjing Medical University, Nanjing, Jiangsu Province, 211166, People’s Republic of China*These authors contributed equally to this workCorrespondence: Qing PengDepartment of Ophthalmology, Shanghai Tenth People’s Hospital, Tongji University, Shanghai, 200072, People’s Republic of ChinaEmail [email protected] ZhangDepartment of Human Anatomy, Nanjing Medical University, Nanjing, Jiangsu, 211166, People’s Republic of ChinaEmail [email protected]: To investigate the concentrations of cytokine and chemokines profiling in aqueous humor for choroidal neovascularization (CNV) due to neovascular age-related macular degeneration (nAMD) before and during Intravitreal injection of ranibizumab (IVR) and its relation with the disease’s active state.Methods: The cytokine levels in aqueous humour were detected by the Bio-Plex® 200 System and the Bio-Plex™ Human Cytokine Standard 27-Plex, Group I. Aqueous humour samples of experimental group were collected from 19 patients diagnosed nAMD at baseline and at 1 month after IVR. Aqueous humour samples of control group were collected from 20 patients undergoing cataract surgery.Results: Aqueous humor levels of basic fibroblast growth factor (basic FGF) and RANTES were significantly lower in nAMD patients than in the control group (P=0.044 and P< 0.001, respectively). Vascular endothelial growth factor-A (VEGF-A) was significantly higher in nAMD patients than in the control group (P < 0.001). The average Eotaxin levels were significantly higher in nAMD patients after IVR than before (P=0.03). Contrarily, the average VEGF-A levels were significantly lower in AMD patients after IVR than before (P < 0.001).Conclusion: Angiogenic, growth factors and inflammatory are involved in the formation of neovascularization of AMD patients. IVR did not cause significant differences in any growth factors or inflammatory cytokines in nAMD patients with the exception of VEGF.Keywords: choroidal neovascularization, CNV, neovascular age-related macular degeneration, nAMD, ranibizumab, cytokines
