Purpose: Cytokines and other growth factors such as interleukins play an important role in the pathogenesis of proliferative vitreoretinopathy (PVR). Interindividual variations in cytokine production seem to correlate with some cytokine gene polymorphisms. The purpose of this study was to analyse the distribution of these cytokine gene variants in patients with rhegmatogenous retinal detachment (RD) with and without PVR.
Methods: Single nucleotide polymorphisms were analysed for five cytokines: tumour necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-alpha), transforming growth factor-beta1 (TGF-beta1), interferon-gamma (IFN-gamma), interleukin-6 (IL-6) and interleukin-10 (IL-10). Patients were divided into two surgically treated groups of RD patients: group RD had 27 patients with RD, and group PVR had 31 patients with RD complicated by PVR. A control group was composed of 46 ethnically matched healthy individuals.
Results: The genotype distribution of the TGF-beta1 codon 10 polymorphism differed between PVR and RD patients (p = 0.018) and between PVR patients and controls in codon 25 (p = 0.011). There was a higher frequency of TGF-beta1 codon 10 allele T in PVR patients compared with RD patients (p = 0.023). No statistically significant differences between groups were observed for the other polymorphisms examined.
Conclusion: An association between the TGF-beta1 genetic profile and the development of PVR was detected in this study. Further studies are necessary to confirm this finding and to establish its clinical relevance.