title: Interleukin-7 expression in tears and orbital tissues of patients with Graves' ophthalmopathy.
abstract: The aim of this study was to explore whether IL-7 participates in the pathogenesis of Graves' ophthalmopathy (GO). This was a prospective study. 20 GO patients (40 eyes) and 20 healthy volunteers (40 eyes) were recruited. The tear concentration of IL-7 was measured using ELISA assay. IL-7 expression in orbital tissues was evaluated by immunohistochemistry. Patients with inactive GO had the highest IL-7 concentrations in the tears, followed by healthy controls and patients with active GO per ELISA. Immunohistochemistry analysis showed that IL-7 expression in orbital tissues of the inactive GO samples was higher than that of the volunteers. Changes of IL-7 expression in different phases of GO suggested that IL-7 may play an important role in the pathogenesis of GO.
authors.affiliation: Department of Ophthalmology, Changzheng Hospital Affiliated the Second Military Medical University, 415 Fengyang Road, Shanghai, 200003, China.
authors.forename: KeBo
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Cai
authors.forename: RuiLi
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Wei
mesh_terms: D016022:Case-Control Studies; D018450:Disease Progression; D005260:Female; D049970:Graves Ophthalmopathy / Q000209:etiology / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000473:pathology; D006801:Humans; D007150:Immunohistochemistry; D015851:Interleukin-7 / Q000032:analysis* / Q000378:metabolism; D008297:Male; D009915:Orbit / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology; D009994:Osmolar Concentration; D013666:Tears / Q000737:chemistry*
chemical_list: C508605:IL7 protein, human; D015851:Interleukin-7