Abstract

DO.05.05

Retinal pigment epithelial cells after exposure to complement

Wasmuth S.¹, Lueck K.¹, Baehler H.¹, Pauleikhoff D.^2
1Ophtha-Lab of Dept. of Ophthalmology at St. Franziskus Hospital, Muenster; ²Department of Ophthalmology at St. Franziskus Hospital, Muenster

Objective: A great proportion of patients with age-related macula degeneration (AMD) were proven to possess a functionally less effective variant of complement factor H. This allows an increased activation of complement. Therefore, in this study the influence of complement on retinal pigment epithelial cells was examined concerning their production of selected cytokines and chemokines with known roles during the development of that disease.
Methods: A human RPE cell line was incubated with complement-competent serum in vitro. The content of interleukin (IL)-6, IL-8 und vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) in the cell culture supernatants was quantified by sandwich ELISA. Lipopolysaccharid (LPS) stimulated RPE cells were examined as control for unspecifically activated cells, while serum free medium of untreated RPE cells was used to determine background levels.
Results: Serum free medium of untreated RPE cells contained only low quantities of the examined substances. In contrast, the RPE cells were activated to produce and secrete all three immunological messengers by complement. Activation with LPS amplified an increased expression of IL-6 und -8, but failed to induce VEGF.
Conclusions: The stimulation of RPE cells with activated complement induced a strong production and a clearly increased secretion of IL-6, IL-8 and VEGF into the surrounding medium. These results emphasise the possible role of complement during the development of AMD.

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