Elucidation of the role of syndecans in infectious or inflammatory diseases of ocular surface

2012 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 23659805
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Challenging Exploratory Research
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Research Field: Ophthalmology
• Research Institution: The University of Tokyo
• Principal Investigator: AMANO Shiro 東京大学, 医学部附属病院, 教授 (80193027)
• Project Period (FY): 2011 – 2012
• Keywords: シンデカン / 涙液 / 角膜上皮 / 創傷治癒

Research Abstract

Three kinds of experiments were performed: experiments using cultured human corneal or conjunctival epithelial cell sheets, experiments using syndecan-4 knockout mice, and experiments using clinical samples.
Evaluation using cultured cell sheet. Syndecan-4 was significantly increased byIL-1b in human primary cultured corneal or conjunctival cell sheets and humanSV40-immortarized corneal cell sheets.
Animal experiments. The speed of wound healing in the cornea was compared in sydecan-4 knockout mice and wild type mice. The speed of corneal wound healing in the physical wound model was similar in the two kinds of mice. The speed ofcorneal wound healing in the inflammatory wound model (alkali burn and LPS injection into corneal stroma) was similar in the two kinds of mice as well. Angiongenesis and lymphangiogenesis were increased in syndecan-4 homo-knockout mice compared to syndecan-4 hetero-knockout mice.
Evaluation on clinical samples. The concentration of syndecan-4 in the tear was measured in patients with ocular surface diseases and healthy volunteers. Tear was collected in 52 male and 84 female. The average age was 66 ± 18 years. The average concentration of syndecan-4 in the tear was 3485 ± 3537 pg/ml. The average concentration of syndecan-4 in the tear in patients with active ocular surfaceinflammation was 2965 ± 4497 pg/ml.