Suppression of interleukin-1 alpha-induced uveitis and inhibition of fibroblast-like cell proliferation by synthetic interleukin-1 blockers

To treat uveitis and prolong the functional life of filtration surgery on g laucomatous eyes, some interleukin-1 (IL-1) blockers were used to inhibit I L-1-induced uveitis in rat eyes and to suppress proliferation of fibroblast -like corneal and conjunctival cells in the cell cultures, respectively. It was found in this research that the blood-aqueous barrier can be broken by IL-1 alpha to allow fluorescein to enter the eyeballs and to be detected b y fluorotron. The uveitis was effectively blocked by the IL-1 blockers stud ied in this research. It was also noted that the proliferation of fibroblas t-like corneal and conjunctival cells was effectively inhibited by IL-1 blo ckers. The inhibition of cell growth seems to be caused primarily by the in hibition of RNA synthesis. There was a significant difference in the potenc y of IL-1 blockers to inhibit corneal vs. conjunctival cells. It was noted that conjunctival cells were more easily inhibited by IL-1 blockers than co rneal cells. These results indicate that IL-1 blockers can suppress the pro liferation of conjunctival cells at dose levels which do not affect the nor mal cell growth of corneal cells.