Alteration of the Course of Dry-Eye Disease by Natural Killer Cell Depletion

Yihe Chen, Andre Okanobo, Reza DanaSchepens Eye Research Institute

Harvard Medical SchoolBoston, MA

The authors have no financial interest in the subject matter of this poster

Background

• Dry eye disease (DED)– One of the most common ocular disorders– Immune and inflammatory process involved– Precise immunopathogenic mechanisms

remain unknown

Background

• Natural killer (NK) cell– An important component of innate immune

system – Large granular lymphocyte– Different from T or B lymphocytes

No T or B cell receptor

– Important roles in diverse autoimmune disease

e.g. multiple sclerosis, myasthenia gravis, and type 1 diabetes

Purpose

Determine the effects of NK cell depletion on DED

Do NK cells play a protective or deleterious role in DED?

Methods

Control Ab, i.p.

No treatment

NK depleting Ab, i.p.

Dry eye induction for 7 days [Controlled-environment chamber]

Normal environment

Corneal Fluorescein Staining

NEI grading

ResultsDepletion of NK cellsDepletion of NK cells

TCR-β

NK

1.1

NK cell is defined as NK1.1+ TCR-β- population

No treatment Control Ab NK depleting Ab

The mice injected with NK depleting antibody showed an efficient depletion of NK cells

Results

0

2

4

6

8

10

12

Day 0 Day 2 Day 5 Day 7

Co

rnea

l flu

ore

scei

n s

tain

ing

sco

re

Normal (No treatment)

Control Ab

NK depleting Ab

Corneal fluorescein staining Corneal fluorescein staining

* p < 0.05 between and

*

*

Significantly reduced corneal fluorescein staining scores on days 2 and 5 , and moderately reduced scores on day 7 were observed upon NK cell depletion

Conclusion

These data provide the first evidence that NK cells are relevant in the pathogenesis of DED