Fol. Biol. 2013, 59, 139-145
The Role of Inflammation in the Progression of Ocular Surface Damage in Children Following Allogeneic Haematopoietic Cell Transplantation
The aim of the study was to evaluate HLA-DR expression and cellular morphology of the conjunctival epithelium cells in children who underwent haematopoietic cell transplantation, and to assess the relation between HLA-DR expression and cellular morphology. Impression cytology with staining was used to visualize epithelium cells, whereas immunohistochemistry was applied to assess HLA-DR expression. Elevated HLA-DR expression and increased cytological abnormalities were observed in the study group when compared to the controls. An increase in HLA-DR expression was accompanied by a decrease in the number of eyes with normal epithelium morphology together with the increase in squamous metaplasia features. We can conclude that inflammation of conjunctiva can follow stem cell allotransplantation. Ocular surface inflammation may lead to squamous metaplasia of the conjunctiva.
Funding
The research was supported by the funds from research project PB2P05E 027 28 awarded to Prof. E. Gorczyńska, conducted in the years 2005–2008.
References
Copyright
This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License.
