 has demonstrated that the natural immunity to allogeneic corneal tissue is stronger in allergic conjunctivitis and is linked to lymphatic ingrowth.

A team led by Dr T. H. Flynn, Department of Ocular Immunology, UCL Institute of Ophthalmology, London, UK, transplanted allogeneic fully MHC-mismatched C57Bl/6 strain donor corneas into naïve A/J mice and A/J mice suffering from active allergic conjunctivitis. Other groups of mice with allergic conjunctivitis were postoperatively administered topical dexamethasone 0.1% twice daily or phosphate-buffered saline.

On day 2 and day 6 the mice were killed and the corneas were examined. This was completed by fluorescent immunohistochemistry using anti-CD11b, anti-F4/80 and anti-Gr-1 antibodies or whole-mount staining with anti-LYVE-1 antibody. The amount of cells infiltrating the cornea and lymphatic ingrowth were compared between the groups.

At day 2 the results presented a significantly high amount of CD11b+ cells and LYVE-1+ vessels in the host cornea. However, there were no differences in naïve and allergic mice in day 6. Topical dexamethasone prevents lymphatic growth and could be a mechanism for topical steroid enhancing graft survival.

Articles

The natural immunity to allogeneic corneal tissue is stronger in allergic conjunctivitis and is linked to lymphatic ingrowth.