Circulating hematopoietic stem cells in patients with choroidal neovascularization secondary to pathologic myopia.
BACKGROUND
Emerging evidences suggest that circulating hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs) affect the pathogenesis of choroidal neovascularization (CNV), however, the roles of HSCs in CNV remain unclear in human population. The current study was designed to investigate the role of HSCs in the pathogenesis of CNV secondary to pathologic myopia (PM).


METHODS
We clinically documented 78 patients with CNV in PM, and 35 of 78 patients and 28 age-matched controls were experimentally analysed. Functional analyses of HSCs were performed using an ex vivo culture system.


RESULTS
We disclosed colony-forming units of endothelial cell (CFU-EC) were markedly lower in patients with bilateral CNV compared to those with unilateral CNV (13.8+/-3.7 vs 45.9+/-7.8, P<0.001). Systemic characteristics between both groups showed no significant difference. To identify local ocular factors that may affect the occurrence of CNV, clinical parameters were compared with the following groups in all enrolled subjects: eyes with CNV vs without CNV in unilateral affected patients, and primary affected eyes vs secondary affected eyes in patients with bilateral CNV. However, no statistically significant factors were identified in any of the groups.


CONCLUSIONS
Circulating HSCs may play a role in the bilateral involvement of CNV in PM patients as one of the systemic factors. Further prospective and longitudinal studies are required.
Sasahara
M
M
Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences, Kyoto University Graduate School of Medicine, Kyoto, Japan.
Otani
A
A
Yodoi
Y
Y
Gotoh
N
N
Kameda
T
T
Yoshimura
N
N
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D002318:Cardiovascular Diseases / Q000150:complications; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D002465:Cell Movement; D002478:Cells, Cultured; D020256:Choroidal Neovascularization / Q000209:etiology* / Q000473:pathology / Q000503:physiopathology; D003114:Colony-Forming Units Assay; D005260:Female; D006412:Hematopoietic Stem Cells / Q000473:pathology*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D047728:Myopia, Degenerative / Q000150:complications* / Q000473:pathology / Q000503:physiopathology; D014792:Visual Acuity; D055815:Young Adult