Concomitant Examination of Inflammation and Angiogenesis in the Pathogenesis of Primary Moderate Pterygium in a Well-designed Case-control Study

Abstract

Pterygium is a common ocular lesion whose exact etiology is a point of contention. Chronic inflammation and angiogenesis are two major proposed mechanisms of the disease in the current literature. The objective of this study is to examine these two mechanisms in a very well-designed setting. In a case-control study, 24 tissue specimens from the patients with primary moderate pterygium (cases) and 15 specimens excised from the nasal bulbar region in healthy counterparts (controls) were compared in terms of the count of mast cells (inflammation), as well as the status of Cd31/vascular Endothelial Growth Factor (VEGF) expression (angiogenesis) in Tabriz Nikookari and Sina Teaching Hospitals. The case (mean age: 58.08 +/- 10.03 years, 84% males) and control (Mean age: 62.33 +/- 9.19 years, 80% males) groups were age-and sex-matched (p = 0.19, 0.75, respectively). The mean mast cell count was significantly higher in the case group (27.72 +/- 15.19 versus 12.00 +/- 7.09 cells mm(-2), p = 0.001). The study of immunoreactivity revealed that the positive expression (moderate-severe) of CD31 was significantly more frequent in the case group (88 versus 26.7%; p<0.001; Odds ratio = 20, 95% confidence interval 3.85-100). There was also higher rate of VEGF-positive (moderate-severe) cells in the group with pterygium (88 versus 20%; p<0.001; Odds ratio= 33.3, 95% confidence interval 5.00-100). This study indicates that both inflammation and angiogenesis play pivotal role, in parallel, in pathogenesis of pterygium.

Minocycline Inhibits Inflammation and Squamous Metaplasia of Conjunctival Tissue Culture in Airlift Conditions

“…1,2 Many ocular surface diseases such as dry eye, Stevens-Johnson syndrome, mucous membrane pemphigoid, chemical/thermal burns, pterygium, and vitamin A deficiency often show chronic inflammation of the ocular surface. [3][4][5][6] Chronic inflammation can lead to squamous metaplasia of the ocular surface epithelium through a signaling pathway. Squamous metaplasia may, in turn, exacerbate inflammation by dysfunction or loss of cells responsible for tear secretion.…”

Primary pterygium was not associated with corneal endothelial cell decrease in a rural Chinese population

“…The other cause of ECD decrease in eyes with pterygium is a variety of pathogenic factors including inflammation, angiogenesis and extracellular matrix modulators [9]. These modulators have been shown to be expressed in pterygium tissue or the cornea underlying or adjacent to the pterygium [7, 20]. Moreover, the levels of these pathogenic factors may be correlated with the clinical features of the pterygium [21–22].…”

Update on implications and mechanisms of angiogenesis in liver fibrosis

“…Some studies have found many inflammatory mediators have been shown to induce angiogenesis in vivo, such as interleukins (IL)-6, -8 and -32, prostaglandins E (PGE)1 and PGE2, tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α) and nitric oxide (NO). [53][54][55] The expression of IL-6 is associated with early angiogenic events and thus has been implicated in angiogenesis, but in vitro it has demonstrated dual effects on EC growth (IL-6 can both promote and inhibit the proliferation of EC), which make its role difficult to appreciate. 56,57 IL-8 is a well-known inflammatory chemokine, and it is propitious to the proliferation and migration of EC.…”