Autologous Serum Eye Drops Diluted with Cyclosporine A 0.05% and Sodium Hyaluronate 0.1%: An Experimental Comparative Study.

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to assess efficacy of a suffusion of autologous serum withcyclosporine 0.05% (CsA) and sodium hyaluronate 0.1% (SH).

Methods: The expression of proinflammatory markers interleukin 6 (IL-6) and TNF-Alpha (TNF-α) in limbal epithelial cells was evaluated. Also, assessment of the stability of epithelial growth factor and transforming growth factor-beta (EGF, TGF-β) in the 50% combinations with autologous serum (AS) was done. The characteristics (pH, density, osmolality) of the two combinations were also evaluated. Additionally, cytotoxicity effect of given test compounds was evaluated on human limbal epithelial cells (LEpiC).

Results: The percentage of cells expressing IL-6 subjected to AS + SH and AS + CsA were 6.23% and 5.69% respectively. There was no significant difference in percentage of cells expressing TNF-α between the formulations (5.87%, 5.83% respectively). The growth factors; EGF and TGF-β remained stable forone month duration (on 2 and 4 weeks) at 4 °C without significant difference between the time intervals tested. The results of MTT assay suggested that limbal epithelial cells treated with AS + CsA and AS + SH combinations showed minimal toxicity however it was not significant statistically ( ≤ 0.05).

Conclusion: Two test combinations (AS + CsA, AS + SH) showed stable growth factors (EGF, TGF-β) and good anti-inflammatory property against pro-inflammatory markers. Also, the 2 combinations were found safe on cultured limbal epithelial cells. The novel combination of autologous serum in CsA may provide added benefit in dry eye disease (DED) through their combined anti-inflammatory and epitheliotropic effects.