Tacrolimus could suppress PVR development

Application of intravitreal tacrolimus could suppress the development of proliferative vitreoretinopathy (PVR), reveals a paper in Retina.

The investigation, led by Dr Burak Turgut, Department of Ophthalmology, Firat University School of Medicine, Elazig, Turkey, consisted of 21 guinea pigs randomly and evenly assigned to three groups. The groups included a non-PVR group injected with saline, a dispase-induced PVR group injected with saline and a dispase-induced PVR group injected with tacrolimus.

Eyes were enucleated after the investigation and the stages of PVR were identified. Halves of the enucleated globes were histopathologically evaluated for PVR formation and the retinas of the other halves of globes were used to prepare retinal homogenates. The enzyme-linked immunsorbent assay method was used to measure transforming growth factor-β, platelet-derived growth factor, and fibroblast growth factor levels in homogenized retina tissues.

The average PVR stages in the tacrolimus group significantly improved compared to the PVR-saline group. The tacrolimus group also presented with lower levels of transforming growth factor-β, platelet-derived growth factor and fibroblast growth factor. Significant improvement was identified in epiretinal membrane formation and retinal fold in the tacrolimus group.

The study implies that tacrolimus could be helpful towards investigating the prophylaxis of PVR.