ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND: Congenital macular coloboma is a rare ocular disease that consists of atrophic lesions in the macula with well-circumscribed borders. We report the findings of spectral domain optical coherence tomography (SD-OCT) at the fixation point in a case of bilateral macular coloboma. CASE REPORT: The subject is a 4-year-old boy. He visited our hospital at age 1 year and 4 months for the evaluation of strabismus. The fundus examination of both eyes showed round-shaped sharply-demarcated atrophic lesions involving the macula with large choroidal vessels and bared sclera at the base. Immunologic tests including toxoplasmosis, rubella, varicella, herpes virus, and human T-cell leukemia virus were all negative. At age 4 years and 1 month, cycloplegic refraction showed insignificant refractive errors and his best corrected visual acuity was 0.6 bilaterally. The SD-OCT showed a crater-like depression accompanying atrophic neurosensory retina, and the absence of retinal pigment epithelium and choroid. Examination of the fixation behavior by visuscope showed steady fixation with an area 0.5° nasal to the nasal edge of the atrophic lesion bilaterally. The SD-OCT findings at fixation area showed remaining normal retinal structures involving inner segment-outer segment (IS/OS) junction line. CONCLUSION: The findings of SD-OCT have been shown to be useful in the diagnosis of macular coloboma. In the fixation point, the structure of retina and choroid were well preserved.
ABSTRACT
Antimicrobial peptides are a diverse family of small, mostly cationic polypeptides that kill bacteria, fungi and even some enveloped viruses, while chemokines are a group of mostly cationic small proteins that induce directed migration of leukocytes through interactions with a group of seven transmembrane G protein-coupled receptors. Recent studies have shown that antimicrobial peptides and chemokines have substantially overlapping functions. Thus, while some antimicrobial peptides are chemotactic for leukocytes, some chemokines can kill a wide range of bacteria and fungi. Here, we examined a possible direct antiviral activity of chemokines against an enveloped virus HSV-1. Among 22 human chemokines examined, chemokines such as MIP-1 alpha/CCL3, MIP-1 beta/CCL4 and RANTES/CCL5 showed a significant direct antiviral activity against HSV-1. It is intriguing that these chemokines are mostly known to be highly expressed by effector CD8+ T cells. The chemokines with a significant anti-HSV-1 activity commonly bound to HSV-1 virions via envelope glycoprotein gB. Electron microscopy revealed that the chemokines with a significant anti-HSV-1 activity were commonly capable of generating pores in the envelope of HSV-1. Thus, some chemokines have a significant direct antiviral activity against HSV-1 in vitro and may have a potential role in host defense against HSV-1 as a direct antiviral agent.
Subject(s)
Antiviral Agents/pharmacology , Chemokines/pharmacology , Herpesvirus 1, Human/drug effects , Humans , Microscopy, Electron , Recombinant Proteins/pharmacology , Virion/drug effects , Virion/ultrastructureABSTRACT
PURPOSE: CC chemokine-ligand 20 (CCL20) is known to be selectively expressed by surface-lining mucosal epithelial cells and skin epidermal keratinocytes and to attract cells such as immature dendritic cells and effector T cells via CCR6. This study evaluated the ability of corneal epithelial cells and stromal keratocytes to produce CCL20 in vitro and in vivo. METHODS: Human corneal epithelial cells (HCE) and corneal keratocytes (HCK) were treated without or with various cytokines and expression of CCL20 mRNA and secreion of its protein were evaluated by RT-PCR and ELISA. Induction of CCL20 mRNA in HCE and HCK was also examined upon in vitro infection with HSV-1. Using a mouse model of herpetic stromal keratitis (HSK), induction of CCL20 expression and accumulation of cells expressing CCR6 were evaluated by RT-PCR and immunohistochemistry. RESULTS: Not only corneal epithelial cells but also stromal keratocytes efficiently expressed CCL20 mRNA and protein upon stimulation with IL-1beta and TNF-alpha. In vitro infection with HSV-1 also induced CCL20 mRNA in both types of cells. In a mouse herpetic stromal keratitis model, prominent accumulation of CCL20 and CCR6 mRNA was revealed in HSV-1-infected corneas. Furthermore, immunohistochemistry demonstrated production of CCL20 by corneal epithelial cells as well as stromal keratocytes and stromal infiltration of DEC205+ dendritic cells, CD4+ T cells and CD8+ T cells. Double staining revealed that CCR6-expressing cells were mostly MHC class II+ dendritic cells. CONCLUSIONS: Not only epithelial cells but also stromal keratocytes are efficient producers of CCL20 in the cornea and recruit CCR6-expressing cells such as dendritic cells into inflamed cornea.