INVESTIGADORES
GALLETTI JeremÍas GastÓn
artículos
Título:
Benzalkonium chloride breaks down conjunctival immunological tolerance in a murine model
Autor/es:
GALLETTI JEREMÍAS GASTÓN; GABELLONI MARÍA LAURA; MORANDE PABLO ELÍAS; SABBIONE FLORENCIA; VERMEULEN MÓNICA; TREVANI ANALÍA SILVINA; GIORDANO MIRTA NILDA
Revista:
MUCOSAL IMMUNOLOGY
Editorial:
NATURE PUBLISHING GROUP
Referencias:
Año: 2013 vol. 6 p. 24 - 34
ISSN:
1933-0219
Resumen:
The impact of topical eye drops with benzalkonium chloride (BAK) as a preservative could involve more than the reported toxic effects on the ocular surface epithelium and ultimately affect the immune balance of the conjunctiva. We found that BAK not only impairs tolerance induction in a murine model, but leads to mild systemic immunization. Contrasting with antigen only-treated mice, there was no induction of interleukin 10-producing antigen-specific CD4(+) cells in BAK-treated animals. Moreover, the tolerogenic capacity of migrating dendritic cells (DCs) was reduced, apparently involving differential conditioning by soluble epithelial factors. Accordingly, epithelial cells exposed in vitro to BAK were less suppressive and failed to induce tolerogenic DCs in culture. As this effect of BAK was dependent on epithelial nuclear factor κB pathway activation, our findings may provide new therapeutic targets. Thus, tolerance breakdown by BAK should be considered an important factor in the management of glaucoma and immune-mediated ocular surface disorders.