Fig 2A : Tear Sphingolipids in VKC by LC-MS/MS analysis.
Fig 2B: Tear sphingolipids in R-VKC and NR-VKC.
X-axis: Mean concentration (ng/ml) in pooled tear sets
Control: 7 pooled tear sets; VKC: 22 tear sets (NR-VKC: 6; and R-VKC:
16).
* p<0.05; ** P<0.01:***p<0.001: control vs
VKC
Fig 3B: # p<0.05; ##P<0.01:### p<0.001: control vs
R-VKC
Fig 2C: Cumulative tear Sphingolipids
- Total sphingolipids in NR-VKC and R-VKC compared to control
- Total S1P
- Total C1P
- Ceramide
- Ceramide in R-VKC
- S1P/ Ceramide classified based on intervention
C: steroid/immunomodulator <8 weeks
D: without steroid/immunomodulator,
E: steroid/immunomodulator > 8 weeks
To summarize, this study brings forth an association between altered
sphingolipid metabolism and VKC pathogenesis observed both at ocular and
systemic levels. Further, it unveils a possible explanation for the
severe or refractory cases of VKC in terms of relatively lowered tear
sphingolipids including ceramide, C1Pand S1P, thus opening fresh avenues
for intervention.
Menta Vignesh1
Agarwal Shweta FRCS 2
Das S Ujjwalkumar 3
Lakshmi Moksha3 ,
Gurumurthy Srividya Ph.D1,
Amrutha Anandan MD2
Srinivasan BhaskarMD2,
Iyer Geetha FRCS, FRCOphth2,
ThirumurthyVelpandian Ph.D3
Narayanasamy Angayarkanni Ph.D1*