Journal of interferon & cytokine research : the official journal of the International Society for Interferon and Cytokine Research
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J. Interferon Cytokine Res. · Oct 2009
Chemokine CXCL1/KC and its receptor CXCR2 are responsible for neutrophil chemotaxis in adenoviral keratitis.
Epidemic keratoconjunctivitis (EKC), caused by human adenovirus (HAdV), is one of the most common ocular infections and results in corneal inflammation and subepithelial infiltrates. Adenoviral keratitis causes significant morbidity to the patients, and is characterized by infiltration of leukocytes in the corneal stroma, and expression of chemokines. The exact role of these chemokines in adenoviral infection has not been studied due to lack of animal models. ⋯ CXCR2(-/-) mice showed increased expression of CXCL1 and CXCL2, but not CCL2. Both CXCL1(-/-) and CXCR2(-/-) mice demonstrated keratitis similar to wild-type mice. In conclusion, both CXCL1 and CXCR2 play an important role in chemokine expression and neutrophil infiltration following adenoviral corneal infection, but have a redundant role in the development of keratitis.