Determination of vitreous interleukin-1 (IL-1) and tumour necrosis factor (TNF) levels in proliferative diabetic retinopathy

doi:doi:10.1038/sj.eye.6702138

Eye (2006) 20, 1366–1369. doi:10.1038/sj.eye.6702138; published online 11 November 2005

Determination of vitreous interleukin-1 (IL-1) and tumour necrosis factor (TNF) levels in proliferative diabetic retinopathy

N Demircan¹, B G Safran², M Soylu¹, A A Ozcan¹ and S Sizmaz¹

¹Department of Ophthalmology, Çukurova University, Faculty of Medicine, Adana-Turkey, Balcali, Turkey
²Department of Ophthalmology Numune Hospital, Adana-Turkey, Balcali, Turkey

Correspondence: AA Ozcan, Çukurova University Faculty of Medicine, Department of Ophthalmology, Balcali, 01330-Adana, Turkey. Tel/Fax: +90 322 338 6442. E-mail: altanoz@cu.edu.tr

Received 17 May 2005; Accepted 31 August 2005; Published online 11 November 2005.

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Abstract

We measured interleukin-1 beta (IL-1) and tumour necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-) in the vitreous humour and serum of patients with proliferative diabetic retinopathy (PDR), in order to determine the role of these cytokines in the pathogenesis of the disease. Vitreous and serum samples were collected from 21 patients with PDR who were undergoing pars plana vitrectomy. Control vitreous samples were obtained from cadavers and control serum samples from healthy subjects. The cytokines were measured by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. Vitreous IL-1 and TNF- concentrations in patients with PDR exceeded those of controls (P<0.05), as did serum IL-1 and TNF-. We suggest that increased vitreous IL-1 and TNF- levels may play a significant role in the pathogenesis of PDR, which features abnormal cell proliferation and neovascularisation.