Alteration of Galectin-3 in Tears of Patients With Dry Eye Disease
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Author
Uchino, Yuichi
Mauris, Jerome
Dieckow, Julia
Amparo, Francisco
Mantelli, Flavio
Note: Order does not necessarily reflect citation order of authors.
Published Version
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ajo.2015.02.008Metadata
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Uchino, Yuichi, Jerome Mauris, Ashley M. Woodward, Julia Dieckow, Francisco Amparo, Reza Dana, Flavio Mantelli, and Pablo Argüeso. 2015. “Alteration of Galectin-3 in Tears of Patients With Dry Eye Disease.” American Journal of Ophthalmology 159 (6) (June): 1027–1035.e3. doi:10.1016/j.ajo.2015.02.008.Abstract
PurposeTo investigate the expression, release, and proteolytic degradation of galectin-3 in patients with dry eye disease.
Design
Observational case series with a comparison group.
Methods
Tear washes and conjunctival impression cytology specimens were collected through standard procedures from 16 patients with dry eye and 11 age-matched healthy subjects. Galectin-3 content in tears was analyzed by quantitative Western blot, using recombinant galectin-3 protein to generate a calibration curve. The relative expression of galectin-3 and matrix metalloproteinase 9 (MMP9) was evaluated by quantitative polymerase chain reaction. The cleavage of galectin-3 was studied in vitro using activated recombinant MMP9 and protease inhibitors.
Results
The concentration of galectin-3 protein in tears, but not galectin-3 expression in conjunctival epithelium, was significantly higher in tears of patients with dry eye (0.38 ng/μg total protein, range 0.04-1.36) compared to healthy subjects (0.12 ng/μg total protein, range 0.00-0.41) (P < .01). By Western blot, an intact (∼28.0 kDa) galectin-3 band was identified in tear samples from healthy subjects, whereas 50% of the dry eye samples were characterized by the additional presence of a partially degraded form (∼25.4 kDa). In our experiments, elevated expression of MMP9 in dry eye subjects correlated with the ability of active MMP9 to cleave galectin-3 from recombinant origin. Interestingly, cleavage of endogenous galectin-3 in tear samples was impaired using a broad-spectrum proteinase inhibitor cocktail, but not the pan-specific MMP inhibitor GM6001, suggesting the presence of proteases other than MMPs in promoting galectin-3 degradation in dry eye.
Conclusions
Our results indicate that release of cellular galectin-3 into tears is associated with epithelial dysfunction in dry eye, and that galectin-3 proteolytic cleavage may contribute to impaired ocular surface barrier function.
Other Sources
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4426220/http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4426220/
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