Search

Introduction: Human Limbal Epithelial Cells (hLEC) are stem cells that give rise to corneal epithelium. After corneal damage, hLEC produce large amounts of IL-8 and IL-6, inducing inflammation in cornea and conjunctiva. Despite inflammation is necessary to repair the ocular surface since this process may be potentially harmful and could lead to corneal opacity. Ophthalmic infectious diseases have been treated with human dialyzable leukocyte extracts (hDLE). Clinical observations in hDLE-treated patients, have suggested an apparent control of ocular inflammatory injuries, without changes in the re-epithelialization process., Objective: To determine the inflammatory cytokine profile in supernatants (SN) of hLEC cultured with hDLE., Methods: hLEC were obtained from cadaver donors. hDLE were added to the hLEC cultures, and SN were collected at different times (1h, 3h, 6h, and 24h). IL-1?, IL 6, IL-8, IL-12p70 and TNF-? were measured in SN with cytometric bead arrays., Results: The majority of isolated cells were CK19+/vimentin+/p63+, indicating that cultured-cells were limbal epithelial stem cells. Limbal cells responded to hDLE by diminishing the secretion of IL-8 and IL-6. Secretion of IL-8 and IL-6 was down-regulated significantly at 24h of culture with hDLE. Interestingly, hDLE did not induce secretion of IL-1 ?, TNF-?, and IL-12p70 in hLEC at any evaluated times., Conclusions: hDLE down-regulates secretion of IL-8 and IL-6 without induction of IL-1 ?, TNF-a, and IL-12p70 in hLEC. Our results provide a basis to understand some clinical effects, related to control ocular inflammation, that have been observed in patients treated with hDLE.

Introduction: Human limbal epithelial cells (huLEC) have been used for clinical purposes in ocular surface diseases to promote rapid re-epithelisation and restore corneal epithelium integrity. However, in Mexico this technique has not been fully developed. This study was conducted to characterize the huLEC phenotype expanded in vitro using a cell culture technique., Material and Methods: Cells were obtained from limbal tissue, cultured in KSFM medium and analyzed for the expression of vimentin, K, K19, p63, K12, by flow cytometry and immuno-fluorescence., Results: The phenotype of cultured cells was vimentin+K+K19+ p63+K12-., Conclusions: Our results suggest that under these culture conditions huLEC maintained their stem cell phenotype. This culture technique could be used for clinical purposes in Mexico.

The eye has multiple mechanisms of immune regulation implicated in the maintenance of ocular immune privilege. However, sometimes diseases or disorders appear and can cause clinical manifestations of intraocular inflammation; usually those diseases are collectively named "uveitis". Despite the uveitis is the main cause of eye morbidity and lost of visual function, the vast majority of the immune mechanisms involved in its generation remains unknown. In this article, the authors reviews the process of immune regulation inside the eye, the immunological mechanisms of damage implicated in the generation of uveitis, as well as the clinical aspects associated with the immune pathogenesis; in the last part of this paper we present the most recent trends in ocular research related to immunological damage in uveitis.