Elevated neutrophils and reduced NK cells are associated with altered tear molecular signatures and clinical sequelae of chronic ocular Stevens-Johnson syndrome

• Published in: The ocular surface 2024-10, Vol.34, p.9-21
• Main Authors: D'Souza, Sharon, Nair, Archana Padmanabhan, Ashok, Nikhil, Kannan, Ramaraj, Dickman, Mor M., Nuijts, Rudy M.M.A., Shetty, Rohit, Sethu, Swaminathan, Ghosh, Arkasubhra
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Adult; Chronic Disease; Cornea; Cytokines; Cytokines - metabolism; Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay; Female; Flow Cytometry; Humans; Immune cells; Inflammation; Killer Cells, Natural - immunology; Killer Cells, Natural - metabolism; Male; Middle Aged; Natural killer cells; Neutrophils; Neutrophils - immunology; Neutrophils - metabolism; SJS; Stevens-Johnson Syndrome - complications; Stevens-Johnson Syndrome - immunology; Stevens-Johnson Syndrome - metabolism; Tears - metabolism; Young Adult
• ISSN: 1542-0124; 1937-5913; 1937-5913
• DOI: 10.1016/j.jtos.2024.04.003

Stevens-Johnson syndrome (SJS) is characterised as an immuno-inflammatory condition with potentially blinding ocular sequelae. Therefore, we have investigated the ocular surface immune cell profile and correlated it with secreted tear molecular factors and clinical ocular sequelae in SJS patients. 21 patients (42 eyes) with chronic ocular SJS and 16 healthy controls (20 eyes) were included in the study. Severity, types of keratopathies and ocular surface (OS) manifestations were determined. OS wash samples from study subjects were used to determine the status of 13 immune cell subsets using flow cytometry. Levels of 42 secreted immuno-inflammatory factors were measured by flow cytometry-based multiplex ELISA in tear samples. Neutrophils (Total, activated), neutrophils/NK cells ratio, neutrophils/T cells ratio were significantly (p