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Triamcinolone acetonide suppresses early proangiogenic response in retinal pigment epithelial cells after photodynamic therapy in vitro
  1. R Obata,
  2. A Iriyama,
  3. Y Inoue,
  4. H Takahashi,
  5. Y Tamaki,
  6. Y Yanagi
  1. Department of Ophthalmology, University of Tokyo School of Medicine, Tokyo, Japan
  1. Correspondence to: Dr Y Yanagi Department of Ophthalmology, University of Tokyo School of Medicine, 7-3-1 Hongo, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo 113-8655, Japan;yanagi-tky{at}umin.ac.jp

Abstract

Objective: To investigate the expression of proangiogenic and antiangiogenic factors, vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) and pigment epithelium-derived factor (PEDF) in retinal pigment epithelial (RPE) cells after photodynamic therapy (PDT), especially focusing on their change in the presence of triamcinolone acetonide.

Methods: Firstly, the cellular uptake of verteporfin was quantified after confluent ARPE-19 (human retinal pigment epithelial) cells were exposed to 5 μg/ml verteporfin combined with or without 1 μg/ml triamcinolone acetonide for 1 h. Secondly, ARPE-19 cells exposed to various doses of verteporfin were irradiated with 120 mJ/cm2 light. After incubation with or without 1 μg/ml triamcinolone acetonide for 2 days, cell viability and expressions of VEGF and PEDF were assessed.

Results: Cellular uptake of verteporfin was not significantly changed by the presence of 1 μg/ml triamcinolone acetonide. In addition, 0.01–0.1 μg/ml of verteporfin showed a dose-dependent toxicity on the ARPE-19 cells 2 days after the light exposure. The presence of verteporfin at a concentration of 0.01 μg/ml did not affect the cell viability but significantly increased VEGF (p<0.001) and reduced PEDF (p = 0.03) expression. Administration of triamcinolone acetonide significantly suppressed both this increase in VEGF (p<0.001) and decrease in PEDF (p = 0.001).

Conclusions: VEGF was increased and PEDF reduced in cultured RPE cells shortly after PDT even at a sublethal dose. Triamcinolone acetonide suppressed this proangiogenic response.

  • ARPE, human retinal pigment epithelial
  • CNV, choroidal neovascularisation
  • PDT, photodynamic therapy
  • PEDF, pigment epithelium-derived factor
  • RPE, retinal pigment epithelial
  • RT-PCR, reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction
  • VEGF, vascular endothelial growth factor

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Footnotes

  • Published Online First 20 September 2006

  • Competing interests: None declared.

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