Levels of aqueous and serum VEGF, TGF-β1, IL-6 in neovascular glaucoma eyes

Background

Neovascular glaucoma (NVG) is a refractory disease characterized by neovascularization, and its pathogenesis mechanism is still unelucidated.Researches showed that multicytokins and inflammatory factors are associated with neovascularization, however, the correlation of these factors with NVG worth attention.

Objective

This study was to detect the vescular endothelial growth factor (VEGF), transforming growth factor β₁(TGF-β₁) and interleukin-6 (IL-6) levels in aqueous humor and plasma in NVG eyes and its significance.

Methods

A prospective cases-controlled study was performed under the approval of Ethic Committee of Shanghai East Hospital and informed consent of patients.Eight eyes of 8 NVG patients, 10 eyes of 10 primary open angle glaucoma (POAG) patients and 10 eyes of age-related cataract (ARC) patients were entrolled in Shanghai East Hospital from May, 2014 to March, 2015.The periphery blood of 3-4 ml was collected from all the patients to prepare 0.3-0.4 ml serum, and 0.1-0.2 ml aqueous humor was collected during the surgery from each eye.The aqueous and serum levels of VEGF, TGF-β₁ and IL-6 were measured by ELISA.

Results

The aqueous humor and plasma VEGF concentrations in NVG patients were (2 769.85±390.88)pg/ml and (529.93±95.20)pg/ml, respectively, which were higher than (208.12±58.59)pg/ml and (219.28±24.44)pg/ml in POAG patients as well as (158.88±12.35)pg/ml and (172.82±31.91)pg/ml in ARC patients, with significant differences among the three groups (aqueous: F=433.80, P<0.01; plasma: F=103.84, P<0.01). The levels of TGF-β₁ in aqueous humor and plasma from NVG patients were (157.94±113.00)pg/ml and (3 895.78±2 318.00)pg/ml, showing significant increases in comparison with (54.48±35.58)pg/ml and (2 196.13±1 185.39)pg/ml in the POAG patients or (47.98±17.69)pg/ml and (1 937.28±933.27)pg/ml in the ARC patients (aqueous: F=7.88, P<0.01; plasma: F=4.18, P<0.05). The concentration of IL-6 in aqueous humor and plasma were (234.87±41.64)pg/ml and (26.97±8.19)pg/ml from NVG patients, with considerable elavation in comparison with (38.97±19.06)pg/ml and (19.54±5.11)pg/ml in the POAG patients or (29.48±14.61)pg/ml and (18.50±3.57)pg/ml in the ARC patients (aqueous: F=166.27, P<0.01; plasma: F=5.59, P<0.05).

Conclusions

The aqueous and plasma VEGF, TGF-β₁ and IL-6 are considerably higher in NVG patients than those in POAG patients and ARC patients, suggesting that these cytokines participate in the pathogenesis and development of the NVG and probably are treating target of NVG.

Glaucoma, neovascular/etiology; Neovascularization, pathologic/etiology; Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay; Humans; Vascular endothelial gowth factor/metabolism; Transforming growth factor beta1/metabolism; Interleukin-6/metabolism; Aqueous humor/metabolism