Cytokines Profiling In Patients With Wet Age-related Macular Degeneration And Polypoid Choroidal Vasculopathy Before And After Intravitreal Injection Of Anti-VEGF

Objective:The purpose of this study is to investigate the cytokine profiles in the aqueous humor of patients with choroidal neovascularization(CNV)due to wet age-related macular degeneration(wet-AMD)and polypoid Choroidal Vasculopathy(PCV)before and after Intravitreal injection of Anti-VEGF(IVA).Methods:In this cross-sectional study,19 patients clinically diagnosed with wet-AMD,14 patients clinically diagnosed with PCV and 20 age and sex-matched cataract patients without wet-AMD as a control group were enrolled.100?l of aqueous humor was collected from the subjects of both the control group and wet-AMD patients during the cataract surgery and IVR.39 clinical samples were analyzed for 27 different cytokines by Bio-Plex? 200 System assay.The cytokine concentrations with detection rates of 50% or more were included for the analysis and the differences between the aqueous humor cytokine levels of the two groups were analyzed.Results:The average age of the 19 patients with wet-AMD was 71.15±7.92 years,and that of the control group was 73±7.55 years.Aqueous humor cytokines of basic fibroblast growth factor(basic FGF)and RANTES were significantly lower in wet-AMD patients than in the control group(P=0.044 and P<0.001,respectively).Vascular endothelial growth factor-A(VEGF-A)was significantly higher in wet-AMD patients than in the control group(P < 0.001).The average Eotaxin levels were significantly higher in wet-AMD patients after IVA than before(P=0.03).Contrarily,the average VEGF-A levels were significantly lower in wet-AMD patients after IVR than before(P < 0.001).The average age of the 14 patients with PCV was 66.36±5.50 years,and that of the control group was 62.33 ± 7.51 years.Aqueous humor cytokines of macrophage inflammatory protein 1 beta(MIP-1?)and RANTES were significantly lower in PCV patients than in the control group(P=0.045 and P=0.004,respectively).Vascular endothelial growth factor-A(VEGF-A)was significantly higher in PCV patients than in the control group(P =0.003).The average MIP-1? levels were significantly higher in PCV patients after IVR than before(P=0.001).The average VEGF-A levels were significantly lower in PCV patients after IVR than before(P < 0.001).The correlation of the expression of various cytokines(IL-5,IL-6,IL-8,Eotaxin,G-CSF,IFN-g,IP-10,MCP-1,MIP-1?,MIP-1?,RANTES)in aqueous humor of nAMD patients before and after IVR was found.The correlation between the central macular thickness(CMT)and the expression of IL-5 was found before IVR(P =0.02).There were correlations between some cytokines(IL-5,IL-6,IL-8,Eotaxin,IFN-g,IP-10,MCP-1,MIP-1?,MIP-1?,RANTES)after IVR.Conclusion:Based on our data,we noticed that the formation of neovascularization of AMD and PCV patients is caused by not only angiogenic factors but also inflammatory factors and there is a correlation among some cytokines.