title: C-reactive protein and complement components in patients with pathological myopia.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To investigate the association between pathological myopia (PM) and immunological/inflammatory markers and to identify the possible risk factors for the formation of myopic choroidal neovascularization (mCNV).
  
  
  METHODS
  One hundred fourteen unrelated subjects were recruited: 63 PM patients (PM group) with spherical equivalent of at least -8.00 diopters (range, -8.00 to -25.00) and axial length exceeding 26.5 mm, accompanied by characteristic pathologic changes, and 51 emmetropic age- and sex-matched individuals (control group) with spherical equivalent within ±1.0 diopter in both eyes. In the PM group, patients were assigned to two subgroups, mCNV group and no CNV group, according to the results of fluorescein angiography. Serum high-sensitivity C-reactive protein (hs-CRP) and complement profile (C3, C4, and CH50) were assayed. Statistical analysis was performed between the two groups. Binary logistic regression analysis was used to analyze the relative risk factors that were associated with the development of mCNV in the PM group patients.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The range of axial length was 26.50 to 37.08 mm in the PM group and 22.32 to 24.56 mm in the control group. There were 24 patients in the mCNV group and 39 patients in the no CNV group. The PM group patients had significantly higher serum hs-CRP (p = 0.033), C3 (p = 0.004), and CH50 (p < 0.001) compared with the control group patients. There were no significant differences between the two groups for C4 level (p = 0.071). Binary logistic regression analysis, which included hs-CRP, C3, C4, CH50, age, and sex as covariates, showed that C3 (p = 0.03) and age (p = 0.01) were risk factors for mCNV, whereas serum hs-CRP, C4, CH50, and sex were not statistically significant predictors of mCNV in the PM group patients (p > 0.05).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Our data support the hypothesis that immunological/inflammatory markers, namely hs-CRP, C3, and CH50 may play an important role in the development of PM, and that C3 level may be a predictive risk factor for mCNV formation.
authors.affiliation: Department of Ophthalmology, Peking Union Medical College Hospital, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences and Peking Union Medical College, Beijing, China. longqinbj@hotmail.com
authors.forename: Qin
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Long
authors.forename: Junjie
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Ye
authors.forename: Ying
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Li
authors.forename: Shuran
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Yang
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Jiang
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D015415:Biomarkers / Q000097:blood; D002097:C-Reactive Protein / Q000378:metabolism*; D003165:Complement System Proteins / Q000378:metabolism*; D005260:Female; D005451:Fluorescein Angiography; D005654:Fundus Oculi; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D047728:Myopia, Degenerative / Q000097:blood* / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000503:physiopathology; D012029:Refraction, Ocular; D012307:Risk Factors; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D055815:Young Adult
chemical_list: D015415:Biomarkers; D003165:Complement System Proteins; D002097:C-Reactive Protein