Matricellular Proteins Play a Potential Role in Acute Primary Angle Closure

ABSTRACT

Purpose: To quantify levels of matricellular proteins in aqueous humor samples from acute primary angle closure (APAC) and non-glaucomatous cataract eyes and investigate their correlation with intraocular pressure (IOP) fluctuation.

Materials and Methods: Aqueous humor samples were collected from 63 eyes including 29 current APAC eyes, 12 previous APAC eyes, and 22 cataract eyes. Concentrations of four main matricellular proteins (SPARC, tenascin-C, thrombospondin-2, and osteopontin) were measured using multiplexed immunoassay kits. Correlations between matricellular proteins and age, sex, and IOP were then detected using Spearman’s rank correlation coefficient.

Results: The levels of SPARC, thrombospondin-2, and osteopontin were significantly elevated in the APAC group as compared to the cataract group (p < 0.001, p < 0.001, and p = 0.009, respectively). Further separation of the APAC group into current and previous APAC groups showed that only the differences of SPARC and thrombospondin-2 between the current APAC and cataract groups were significant (both p < 0.001). All four matricellular proteins were found to have a positive correlation with IOP in the current APAC group but no correlation was found in the previous APAC or cataract groups.

Conclusions: The levels of matricellular proteins were significantly elevated in the current APAC eyes and positively correlated to IOP. Further studies are necessary to investigate the molecular mechanisms and histological evidence of pathogenesis in matricellular proteins in APAC.

KEYWORDS:

• Acute primary angle closure
• aqueous humor
• matricellular proteins
• extracellular matrix proteins
• intraocular pressure

Declaration of interests

The authors report no conflicts of interest. The authors alone are responsible for the content and writing of the paper.

Financial disclosures

The authors declare that there is no financial disclosures regarding the publication of this paper.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by National Natural Science Foundations of China [81600704 and 81500714], Project Supported by Shanghai Science and Technology Committee [17140903200] and Interdisciplinary Program of Shanghai Jiao Tong University [YG2015QN19].