Proinflammatory chemokines in the development of systemic organ-specific sensitization in infectious corneal ulcers

Purpose . The aim is to estimate the content of proinflammatory chemokines (CXCL1/GRO-α CXCL8/IL-8, CXCL10/IP-10, CXCL12/ SDF-1α, CCL2/MCP-1, CCL3/MIP-1α, CCL4/MIP-1β, CCL5/RANTES, CCL11/Eotaxin) in blood serum in corneal ulcers and their relationship to the cellular immune response to corneal and uveoretinal tissues. Material and methods . 96 patients with corneal ulcer and 38 apparently healthy subjects, who made up the control group, were examined. Chemokines were determined by multiplex analysis using xMAP technology (Luminex, USA) in the xPONENT3.1 program using magnetic fluorescent microspheres and a ProcartaPlex kit (eBioscience, USA). To identify the autoimmune component, a micromodification of the leukocyte migration inhibition reaction (MIRL) with extracts of the corneal and the uveoretinal tissue of bovine eyes were used. Based on MIRL results, the patients were divided into two groups: 1 group sensitized patients (positive response to tissue antigens) — 33 (34 %) patients, 2 group — nonsensitized patients (negative response to tissue antigens) — 63 (66 %) patients. Results . The group of patients showed 2–10 times higher concentrations of the following chemokines, with respect to the control group: CXCL8/IL-8, CXCL12/SDF-1α, CXCL10/IP-10, ССL2/MCP-1, CCL4/MIP-1β, CCL5/RANTES. Shifts of CXC-chemokines (CXCL8/IL-8, CXCL12/SDF-1α, CXCL1/GRO-α, CXCL10/IP-10) in patients with central corneal ulcer were associated with increased systemic cellular immune response to eye tissue antigens; the most expressed dynamics was noted for chemokine CXCL8/IL8. Сonclusions . The revealed changes in CXC- and CC-classes chemokine levels in patients’ blood characterize the corneal ulcers an immopathologic process and validate the necessity of further research into diagnostic informativeness of the presented mediator spectrum as biological markers for the prognosis of corneal ulcers and their complications in wider clinical samples. Concentration of serum CXC chemokines, and most directly CXCL8/IL-8 can serve as an additional marker for the development of a cellular immune response to eye tissue antigens in patients with a central corneal ulcer.