Peer-reviewed veterinary case report
Tear cytokine levels in healthy dogs and dogs with eye and skin
By Martinez, P S et al.·Published in Veterinary immunology and immunopathology·2020·Department of Veterinary Clinical Sciences, United States·View original on PubMed →
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Original publication title: Cytokine tear film profile determination in eyes of healthy dogs and those with inflammatory periocular and skin disorders.
- Species:
- dog
Plain-English summary
A group of healthy dogs and dogs with skin and eye problems had their tear samples tested to see if there were differences in certain immune markers. The study found that dogs with both skin and eye inflammation had higher levels of a specific immune marker (IL-8) compared to healthy dogs. This suggests that measuring these markers in tears could help veterinarians understand and treat dogs with inflammatory conditions affecting their skin and eyes.
People also search for: dog eye problems and skin issues · dog tear test for inflammation · why is my dog’s eye red and itchy
Abstract
Alterations in serum cytokine levels and profiles have been reported in association with a variety of disease conditions (e.g., allergic, immune-mediated, etc.) in both humans and animals. In comparison to serum cytokine measurements, tear cytokine measurements might be expected to more accurately reflect the inflammatory milieu associated with periocular disease. The purpose of this study was to use a multiplexed assay to compare the cytokine profile of tears in healthy dogs to those with inflammatory skin and periocular disease. We were able to detect IL-2, IL-6, IL-8, and TNF-α in >47 % of tear samples from both healthy canine patients and those with inflammatory dermatologic disease (with or without concurrent periocular involvement). In contrast, IL-7, IL-10 and IFN-γ were rarely detected. Dogs with both dermatologic and periocular disease (but not dermatologic disease alone) had higher levels of IL-8 (P < 0.001, P > 0.05, respectively) relative to healthy dogs. Patients with concurrent dermatologic and periocular disease also demonstrated significantly greater variability in IL-8 concentrations between eyes than did healthy dogs (P < 0.0001). Our findings suggest that tear cytokine analysis may prove to be a useful tool to investigate the role and interactions of the local ocular immune response in patients with inflammatory periocular disease.
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Search related cases →Original publication on PubMed: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/31978678/