원추각막에서 Fas Ligand 단백질의 발현

• Published in: Daihan angwa haghoi jabji Vol. 41; no. 12; pp. 2669 - 2675
• Main Authors: 이선주, Sun Joo Lee, 조은영, Eun Young Cho, 김우중, Woo Jung Kim
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: Korean
• Published: 대한안과학회 15.12.2000
• Subjects: Fas ligand protein; Keratoconus; Keratocyte apoptosis
• ISSN: 0378-6471

It was reported that Fas/Fas ligand system is involved in modulating ker-atocyte apoptosis. It is also hypothesized that keratocyte apoptosis may play an important role in the pathogenesis of keratoconus. We evaluated the expression of Fas ligand protein in keratoconus corneas removed at the time of cornea transplantation. Immunocytochemistry was performed to localize Fas ligand protein in fresh paraffin sections of keratoconus(8 corneas) and stromal dystrophy(5 corneas) taken at the time of penetrating keratoplasty. Two normal cornea sections are processed in the same manner used as con-trol. Primary antibody was polyclonal rabbit-human Fas ligand IgG(Santa Cruz Co., USA). Fas ligand protein was uniformly detected in epithelial and endothelial layers of keratoconus, dystrophy and normal corneas. In stromal layer, however, Fas ligand protein was strongly detected in the anterior and middle stroma of keratoconus, but not in the dystrophy or nor-The number of positive-stained keratocytes was counted and analyzed. The anterior stromal layer of keratoconus corneas had a significantly higher level of the Fas ligand than that found in stromal dystrophy or normal cornea(p＜0.001). There was no significant difference between 3 groups in the posterior stromal layer. The expression of Fas ligand protein in superfi-cial stroma of cornea may play an important role in keratoconus. The results also suggest the associated keratocyte apoptosis may link the patho-genesis of keratoconus(J Korean Ophthalmol Soc 41:2669~2675, 2000).