The role of the systemic disbalance of serum cytokine levels in pathogenesis of retinopathy of prematurity

The present study of the systemic disbalance of the serum cytokine levels included 80 prematurely born children before they developed clinical manifestations of retinopathy of prematurity (ROP). The analysis of the relationship between the characteristics of the cytokine status and the development of ROPduring the subsequent period was undertaken. It was shown that the frequency of detection of cytokines and their concentration in the blood serumof the premature infants are subject to broad variations. The study revealed the tendency toward the prevalence of potentially “pathogenic” (angiogenic, proinflammatory) cytokines in the sera of the premature children who later developed the “threshold” stage of ROPwhich dictated the necessity of laser coagulation of the avascular retinal regions. Of special interest are the observations of serum IGF-II and TGF-beta levels. The former of these parameters showed the fairly well-apparent tendency toward increase in the group of the children with the “threshold” stage of ROP while the letter tended to decrease. It is concluded that the further investigations into the relationship ofserum IGF-II and TGF-beta levelswith those of VEGF at different stages of ROP evolution have good prospects.

retinopathy of prematurity, pathogenesis, prognosis, immunological studies, cytokines