The association between neovascular age-related macular degeneration and regulatory T cells in peripheral blood

Abstract

Purpose

To investigate regulatory T cells (Tregs) and subsets of the Treg population in patients with neovascular age-related macular degeneration (AMD).

Patients and methods

Twenty-one neovascular AMD cases and 12 age-matched controls without retinal pathology were selected. Patients were recruited from our outpatient retinal clinic. Control individuals were typically spouses. The diagnosis of neovascular AMD was confirmed using fluorescein and indocyaningreen angiography. Fresh venous blood was analyzed by flow cytometry using fluorochrome-conjugated antibodies to the Treg surface antigens CD4, CD25, CD127, CD45RA, and CD31. Main outcome measures were the percentage of CD25^highCD127^low Tregs, the percentage of CD45RA⁺ naïve Tregs, and the percentage of CD31⁺ recent thymic emigrant Tregs.

Results

Comparing patients with neovascular AMD to controls, no significant differences were found in the percentages of CD4⁺ lymphocytes, CD25^highCD127^low Tregs, CD45RA⁺ naïve Tregs, or CD31⁺ recent thymic emigrant Tregs.

Conclusion

Our data does not indicate an altered state of systemic Treg cells in neovascular AMD.

Keywords:

• Tregs
• macular degeneration
• immunosenescence
• CD45RA antigens
• CD31 antigens

Acknowledgments

We thank Yousif Subhi for his kind assistance with data analysis and Amardeep Singh for his help with the study design. This study was funded by Region Zealand’s Research Fund.

Author contributions

The following author contributions apply to the current study: study design and conduct (CFM, MKF, TLS), data collection (CFM, MKF), data management, analysis and interpretation (CFM, MKF, TLS), manuscript preparation, and review and approval (CFM, MKF, TLS).

Disclosure

The authors have no proprietary or commercial interests in any materials discussed in this article, and report no conflicts of interest in this work. The funding organization had no role in the design or conduct of this research.