title: Corneal inflammation after miniature keratoprosthesis implantation.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To compare corneal inflammation after syngeneic and allogeneic penetrating keratoplasty (PK) with miniature Keratoprosthesis (m-KPro) implantation in mice.
  
  
  METHODS
  BALB/C (syngeneic) or C57BL/6 (allogeneic) corneas were transplanted onto BALB/C host beds as part of PK or m-KPro implantation. Corneal inflammation was assessed by determining the frequencies of CD45(+) leukocytes, CD4(+) T cells, CD11b(+) cells, and Gr-1(+) granulocytes/monocytes by flow cytometry at 2, 4, and 8 weeks post transplantation. In addition, expression levels of the proinflammatory cytokines TNF-α and IL-1β were analyzed using real-time qPCR at 8 weeks post transplantation.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Cell frequencies in the syngeneic (syn) and allogeneic (allo) m-KPro groups were higher compared with the syngeneic and allogeneic PK groups, respectively, at all time points. However, after week 4, frequencies of all analyzed immune cells were higher in the alloPK group as compared with synKPro group. At 8 weeks, the expression of TNF-α was higher in synKPro, alloPK, and alloKPro groups compared with the naïve and synPK groups. The expression of IL-1β was significantly higher in both KPro groups as compared with PK groups.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Although the m-KPro device augments the inflammatory response in the cornea after its implantation, allogenicity (of the carrier tissue) is also a significant contributor to corneal inflammation. These data suggest that using syngeneic or decellularized corneal tissue as a Boston-KPro carrier could reduce the postoperative inflammation response.
authors.affiliation: Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary and Schepens Eye Research Institute, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts, United States.
authors.forename: Alja
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Crnej
authors.affiliation: Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary and Schepens Eye Research Institute, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts, United States.
authors.forename: Masahiro
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Omoto
authors.affiliation: Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary and Schepens Eye Research Institute, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts, United States.
authors.forename: Thomas H
authors.initials: TH
authors.lastname: Dohlman
authors.affiliation: Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary and Schepens Eye Research Institute, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts, United States.
authors.forename: Claes H
authors.initials: CH
authors.lastname: Dohlman
authors.affiliation: Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary and Schepens Eye Research Institute, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts, United States.
authors.forename: Reza
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Dana
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001187:Artificial Organs; D003315:Cornea / Q000473:pathology* / Q000601:surgery; D004195:Disease Models, Animal; D005434:Flow Cytometry; D007634:Keratitis / Q000209:etiology* / Q000473:pathology; D015948:Keratoplasty, Penetrating / Q000379:methods*; D008297:Male; D051379:Mice; D008807:Mice, Inbred BALB C; D008810:Mice, Inbred C57BL; D008904:Miniaturization; D019736:Prostheses and Implants; D011474:Prosthesis Design; D014184:Transplantation, Homologous
keywords: Boston Keratoprosthesis; allogeneic; cornea inflammation; penetrating keratoplasty; syngeneic