Outstanding partnership in neuroinflammation. Highlighting open‐angle glaucoma diagnosis and therapy

• Published in: Acta ophthalmologica (Oxford, England) Vol. 102; no. S279
• Main Authors: Villanueva, Carolina Garcia, Andrés‐Blasco, Irene, Gallego‐Martínez, Alex, Zanón‐Moreno, Vicente, Vila‐Arteaga, Jorge, Feijoo, Julian Garcia, Pinazo‐Duran, Maria Dolores
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Malden Wiley Subscription Services, Inc 01.01.2024
• Subjects: Apoptosis; Cerebrospinal fluid; Chemokines; Colony-stimulating factor; Cytokines; Glaucoma; Inflammation; Injuries; Interferon; Leukocytes (granulocytic); Macrophages; Meniscus; Neurodegeneration; Neurogenesis; Neuroprotection; Signal transduction
• ISSN: 1755-375X; 1755-3768
• DOI: 10.1111/aos.16218

Aims/Purpose: Despite significant advances in neuroprotection strategies, patients are still at high risk for glaucoma neurodegeneration (GND), in which neuroinflammation (NINF) is exceedingly implicated. It has recently been shown that in the acute phase, NINF cascades lead to apoptosis, meanwhile in later stages a wide variety of signalling pathways act trying to repair existing damage. Also, NINF affects adult neurogenesis (NG), that, in turns, remains an unknown field to be explored in GND. Methods: A total of 135 participants of both sexes, aged 35–80 years, were selected and classified into: open‐angle glaucoma (OAG) patients (n = 70) and healthy controls (CG; n = 65). Demographics, clinical and molecular data were registered. Tears were collected from the inferior meniscus and frozen at −80°C until processing by the multiplex system (human cytokine panel) to determine the cytokine/chemokine levels. Data were processed by using the IBM SPSS 25.0 program. Results: Mean age of the participants was 62 ± 14 years (68% were aged over 60 years). Gender distribution was 38% males/62% females. Tears from patients with OAG showed differential expression profile of the assayed cytokines/chemokines, as compared to the CG. Specifically, the granulocyte‐macrophage colony stimulating factor (GM‐CSF; p < 0.001), interferon‐γ (IFN‐γ; p < 0.001), tumour necrosis factor alpha (TNFa); and interleukin (IL) ‐4 and − 10 (p < 0.05) revealed significantly higher levels in the OAG patients versus the CG. Conclusions: Liberation of anti‐ and pro‐inflammatory cytokines with a broad range of functions in adult NG, as the aforementioned factors: the GM‐CSF, INFg, TNFa, IL‐4 and IL‐10, can be fully considered when managing GND and visual outcomes.