RANTES PRODUCTION IN A CONJUNCTIVAL EPITHELIAL-CELL LINE

Purpose, Although corneal tissue damage in allergic ocular diseases is thought to be induced by inflammatory cells that infiltrate from conj unctival tissue, the mechanisms of recruiting these cells remain uncle ar. The objective of this study was to demonstrate whether conjunctiva l epithelial cells have the ability to produce ''regulated on activati on, normal T-cell expressed and secreted'' (RANTES). To test this hypo thesis, we investigated RANTES expression in the conjunctival tissue a nd also RANTES production by cytokine stimulation in a human conjuncti val epithelial cell line. Methods, We investigated the expression of t he chemokine RANTES in conjunctival epithelium from two patients with atopic keratoconjunctivitis (AKC) and one patient with vernal keratoco njunctivitis (VKC) by using immunohistochemistry. We also investigated the production and suppression of RANTES from a human conjunctival ep ithelial cell line, Wong-Kilbourne-derived human conjunctiva (WK-hC) b y using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). Results, Conjunctiv al epithelium from a patient with AKC stained positively for RANTES. W e found that tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-alpha) induced de novo p roduction of RANTES, and interferon-gamma (IFN-gamma) synergistically increased the TNF-alpha-dependent production of RANTES from WK-hC cell s. Dexamethasone suppressed the RANTES production from the cell line. Conclusion, Taken together, human conjunctival epithelial cells were c apable of producing RANTES in response to inflammatory stimuli such as TNF-alpha and may play a role in recruiting inflammatory cells such a s eosinophils and T lymphocytes toward the ocular surface.