| Autor: |
Che JB; Department of Ophthalmology, People's Hospital Affiliated to Shandong First Medical University, Jinan 271199, China., Wang JM; Department of Ophthalmology, People's Hospital Affiliated to Shandong First Medical University, Jinan 271199, China., Gao J; Department of Ophthalmology, People's Hospital Affiliated to Shandong First Medical University, Jinan 271199, China., Han WH; Department of Ophthalmology, People's Hospital Affiliated to Shandong First Medical University, Jinan 271199, China., Zhang JB; Department of Ophthalmology, People's Hospital Affiliated to Shandong First Medical University, Jinan 271199, China. |
| Abstrakt: |
Objective: To explore the relationship between expression of nucleotide-binding oligomerization domain-like receptor protein 3 (NLRP3) inflammasome and improvement of macular structure in patients with wet age-related macular degeneration (wAMD) after anti-vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) therapy. Methods: A before-after study was carried out. A total of 110 patients (110 eyes) with wAMD who were admitted to Department of Ophthalmology, People's Hospital Affiliated to Shandong First Medical University between August 2019 and December 2021 were enrolled, and all patients were given vitreous injection of anti-VEGF drug (ranibizumab or bevacizumab). The aqueous humor was collected to detect mRNA levels of NLRP3, cysteinyl aspartate specific protease-1 (Caspase-1), apoptosis-associated speck-like protein (ASC) and interleukin (IL) 1β by fluorescence quantitative PCR. The levels of IL-1β, IL-18, tumor necrosis factor α (TNF-α) and VEGF in aqueous humor were detected by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). The correlation between the above indexes and central macular thickness (CMT) in wAMD patients was analyzed by multivariate linear regression analysis. Results: In the 110 wAMD patients, there were 68 males and 42 females, with a mean age of (68.7±7.6) years. Compared with those before treatment, mRNA levels of NLRP3 (1.65±0.27, 1.34±0.19 vs 1.97±0.23, both P <0.017), Caspase-1 (1.47±0.15, 1.29±0.17 vs 1.53±0.18, both P <0.017), ASC (1.33±0.14, 1.21±0.18 vs 1.47±0.12, both P <0.017) and IL-1β (1.78±0.21, 1.46±0.17 vs 2.21±0.24, both P <0.017), and levels of IL-1β [(26.9±5.7), (20.3±4.6) vs (33.6±8.3) ng/L, both P <0.017], IL-18 [(32.7±7.6), (23.3±6.9) vs (46.4±9.4) ng/L, both P <0.017], TNF-α [(39.4±6.6), (21.7±6.3) vs (52.9±9.1) ng/L, both P <0.017] and VEGF [(35.7±10.2), (23.4±6.7) vs (65.4±19.3) ng/L, both P <0.017] were decreased after the first and second injection. Moreover, the above-mentioned indexes after second injection were lower than those after the first injection (all P <0.017). The results of multivariate linear regression analysis showed that NLRP3 mRNA (the first injection: β=53.750, P <0.001; the second injection: β=94.648, P <0.001), IL-1β (the first injection: β=1.356, P =0.021; the second injection: β=2.008, P =0.003), IL-18 (the first injection: β=1.984, P <0.001; the second injection: β=1.251, P =0.003) and VEGF (the first injection: β=1.875, P <0.001; the second injection: β=2.119, P <0.001) had linear relationships with CMT. Conclusion: The decrease of NLRP3 inflammasome and its products in aqueous humor may be related to the improvement of macular structure in wAMD patients after anti-VEGF therapy. |
