Macrophage migration inhibitory factor levels in the vitreous of patients with proliferative vitreoretinopathy

PURPOSE: To assess the potential role of macrophage migration inhibitory fa ctor (MIF) in the pathogenesis of proliferative vitreoretinopathy, METHODS: We assayed MTF levels in vitreous and paired serum samples of 74 c onsecutive patients with proliferative vitreoretinopathy (26 eyes), rhegmat ogenous retinal detachment (22 eyes), and macular hole or idiopathic epiret inal membrane (control, 26 eyes) by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. RESULTS: Vitreous levels of MIF were 51.33 +/- 49.21 ng/ml (mean +/- SD) in proliferative vitreoretinopathy, 19.11 +/- 16.13 ng/ml in rhegmatogenous r etinal detachment, and 2.98 +/- 2.55 ng/ml in the controls. The vitreous le vels in eyes with proliferative vitreoretinopathy, were significantly highe r than levels in eyes with rhegmatogenous retinal detachment (P = .0005) an d in the control subjects (P < .0001), The vitreous levels were significant ly higher than the serum levels in proliferative vitreoretinopathy (P < .00 01) and rhegmatogenous retinal detachment (P = .0019), respectively.