Document Type

Journal Article

Publication Title

Scientific Reports

Publisher

Nature

School

School of Medical and Health Sciences

RAS ID

29280

Comments

Notara, M., Behboudifard, S., Kluth, M. A., Maßlo, C., Ganss, C., Frank, M. H., ... & Cursiefen, C. (2018). UV light-blocking contact lenses protect against short-term UVB-induced limbal stem cell niche damage and inflammation. Scientific reports, 8(1), 12564. Available here

Abstract

UVB irradiation has been linked to pathogenesis of pterygium, a conjunctival tumor growing onto transparent cornea, the windscreen of the eye. Due to corneal anatomy, ambient UVB irradiation is amplified at the stem cell-containing nasal limbus. The aim of this study was to analyse the effect of a UV-blocking contact lens (UVBCL, senofilcon A, Class 1 UV blocker) on limbal epithelial cells and fibroblasts under UVB irradiation compared to a non-UVB-blocking contact lens. UVBCL prevented UVB-induced DNA damage (as assessed by cyclobutane pyrimidine dimer immunostaining) as well as a decrease in proliferation and scratch wound closure rate of both limbal epithelial and fibroblast cells. Similarly, UVBCL protected limbal epithelial cells from UVB-induced loss of their phenotype in terms of colony forming efficiency and stem cell marker expression (ABCB5, P63α, integrin β1) compared to controls. Moreover, with UVBCL pro-inflammatory cytokines such as TNFα and MCP1 remained unchanged. These data demonstrate the significance of UV-protection in preserving the limbal niche in response to at least short-term UVB. Our data support the use of UVBCL in protecting limbal niche cells, especially after limbal stem cell transplantation and in patients after pterygium surgery, to help prevent recurrences.

DOI

10.1038/s41598-018-30021-8

Creative Commons License

Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

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