Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound
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Query: UMLS:C0086543 (cataract)
 29,165 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

Corneal and conjunctival biopsies of 13 patients with rheumatoid arthritis and corneal ulceration (RA-keratomalacia) have been characterized by immunohistological and histochemical analysis. Biopsies from 13 patients with bacterial conjunctivitis, 7 patients with allergic conjunctivitis, 15 patients with senile cataract and 15 patients with keratokonus served as controls. The phenotypic composition of the conjunctival inflammatory infiltration of rheumatoid corneal ulceration was not significantly different from the other inflammatory eye diseases studied. However, conjunctival epithelial cells of all RA-patients showed strong de novo expression of HLA-DR- and DP-antigens. HLA-DQ-antigens were only weakly expressed in a minority of patients. In bacterial conjunctivitis a less intense HLA-class-II-expression was found to be restricted to HLA-DR-antigens. Furthermore, in RA patients stromal fibroblasts of the cornea expressed lysosomal elastase. Both observations could be explained by paracrine action of interleukins produced by infiltrating T-lymphocytes and macrophages. Thus, it might be tempting to speculate that immunologically induced, elastase mediated autodegradation of corneal stroma may be an important factor in the pathogenesis of rheumatoid corneal ulceration.
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PMID:[Keratomalacia in rheumatoid arthritis: immunohistologic and enzyme histochemical studies]. 168 33

Systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) is an autoimmune disease occasionally involving the conjunctiva, sclera or cornea. The immunopathology of the active epibulbar lesions has not been studied in detail. Conjunctival biopsies from 11 SLE patients with active epibulbar lesions and from 12 age-matched individuals undergoing cataract surgery were analysed by light microscopy, immunofluorescence and immunoperoxidase techniques. SLE patients presented with scleritis (3 cases), peripheral ulcerative keratitis (5 cases) or progressive cicatrising conjunctivitis (5 cases). Histologically, SLE specimens showed moderate subepithelial and perivascular mononuclear cell infiltration or granuloma formation in the substantia propria, and squamous metaplasia; thrombosis was not seen. Immunoreactant deposition was present at the epithelial basement membrane in 4 of 5 cases with cicatrising conjunctivitis. Vascular immunodeposits wer detected in 4 cases. The epithelium showed increased T helper cells (CD4+), granulocytes and natural killer cells (CD67+), dendritic cells (CD1+), and an increase in HLA-DR expression compared with normal tissue. In the substantia propria, B cells (CD22+), macrophages (CD14+), dendritic cells, activated T cells (CD25+, CD3+), the T helper (CD4+)/T suppressor (CD8+) ratio and HLA-DR expression were all increased. These observations suggest that the rare epibulbar manifestations in SLE result from immune-complex-mediated reactions.
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PMID:Histology and immunopathology of systemic lupus erythematosus affecting the conjunctiva. 894 91