Oxidative Stress and Genotoxicity in Pterygium: A Systemic Investigation

OBJECTIVES: To perform a systemic investigation on oxidative stress and DNA damage in patients with primary pterygium. METHODS: This prospective cross-sectional study included 32 patients with primary pterygium (60.1±2.0 years of age) and 33 age- and sex-matched (58.8±2.2 years of age) control subjects (P>0.05). A commercial kit was used for measuring serum total oxidant status (TOS) and total antioxidant status (TAS). The comet assay was performed after lymphocyte isolation from venous blood to quantitate DNA damage. Tail length (TL), tail intensity (TI), and tail moment (TM) were used for statistical analysis as parameters of DNA damage. RESULTS: In the pterygium group, TOS and TAS were significantly higher when compared with those of the control group (P=0.019 and P=0.005, respectively). In terms of DNA damage, patients with pterygium had higher TL, TI, and TM than in the control subjects (P<0.0001 for all). CONCLUSIONS: Although current literature focuses on local factors in pterygium pathogenesis, patients with pterygium seem to have increased systemic oxidative status (and compensatory antioxidant response) and genotoxicity, which might create a predisposition for pterygium development.