Background
Stevens-Johnson syndrome (SJS) and its much more severe form, toxic epidermal necrolysis (TEN), are primarily drug-induced life-threatening immunologic dermatological disorders characterized by a sudden high fever, necrosis and detachment of skin as well as mucous membranes of the whole body [
1,
2]. Although SJS/TEN are rare diseases, with an estimated annual incidence of 0.4 to 7 cases per million persons, the mortality rates of individuals with these diseases are very high, which was reported to be 1–5% for SJS and 25–40% for TEN [
1].
Acute ocular involvement is very common in SJS/TEN patients with an incidence of 60–100%, it ranges from simple conjunctival hyperemia to almost complete ocular surface epithelium falling off [
3,
4]. However, since the severity of ocular involvement and skin lesions are not always parallel at onset, eye conditions are easily overlooked. Early diagnosis and treatment for ophthalmic diseases in the acute phase of SJS/TEN are extremely critical but lack study [
5]. Conjunctival impression cytology is a noninvasive technique that samples the conjunctival exfoliated cells and analyses them through periodic acid-Schiff (PAS) staining and immunofluorescence staining. This helps us understand the condition of ocular surface damage from a histopathologic point of view [
6]. However, the majority of research has focused on ocular surface pathological changes in the chronic phase of SJS/TEN, with fewer investigations in the acute phase.
The pathogenesis of SJS/TEN is not completely clear; it is considered to be a T-cell mediated, delayed hypersensitivity activity, and cytokines play an important role in the development and progression of these diseases [
7,
8]. The dynamics of multiple cytokines in the different stages of SJS/TEN were observed in epidermal lesions, blister fluid, serum, corneal epithelium, and tears [
9‐
11]. As a noninvasive method, tear multi-cytokine analysis helps make an accurate and quantitative assessment of ocular surface inflammation. Several studies have focused on the pathophysiological mechanism of ocular surface inflammation in chronic SJS/TEN patients through tear cytokine detection [
11‐
14]. However, the study of tear cytokine analysis for patients with acute SJS/TEN is lacking, except for one case report that monocyte chemoattractant protein-1 (MCP-1), interleukin-6 (IL-6), and interleukin-8 (IL-8) were rapidly increased in an SJS patient’s tears at the acute stage [
15].
This study aims to investigate ocular subjective symptoms, objective signs, conjunctival impression cytology, and tear multi-cytokine analysis of patients with acute SJS/TEN, which may help clarify the underlying ocular pathophysiological mechanism in the acute phase and enhance the early management of these diseases.
Discussion
Historically, SJS was first described by two American pediatricians named Stevens and Johnson in 1922 and occurred in two children characterized by persistent fever, widespread skin eruption, and serious purulent conjunctivitis [
28]. TEN was first reported in 1956 by Lyell, who described four cases with exfoliative mucocutaneous resembling burns [
29]. SJS/TEN is one of the rare skin diseases that constitute a true medical emergency. Acute conjunctivitis, simultaneously or followed by skin lesions accompanied by extraordinarily high fever, nails, and oral mucosa involvement, indicates the onset of SJS/TEN [
18]. Even if these patients survive the severe acute illness, serious sequelae often last a lifetime. Ocular complications are considered to be the most common complication among SJS/TEN survivors [
30].
As reported, at least one-third of acute ocular manifestations may develop into chronic sequelae, including severe dry eye diseases, symblephara, trichiasis, and persistent corneal epithelial defects, which have an obvious effect on the quality of SJS/TEN survivors’ life [
5,
31]. However, effective treatment for chronic sequelae is lacking [
32]. Therefore, increased awareness and understanding of acute ocular involvement of SJS/TEN are needed. Positive and proper management of acute ocular involvement is essential to decelerate ongoing damage and prevent late complications [
5,
33]. In our study, we paid attention to the acute phase of ten SJS/TEN patients. The limitation of this study is the sample size of patients since SJS/TEN is a very rare disease. We found the ocular objective signs seemed basically normal. These findings are similar to a previous study: no or mild ocular involvement was present in one-half of patients at their acute stage [
34]. It is worth noting that most acute SJS/TEN patients have abnormal meibomian gland secretions, which may eventually develop into meibomian gland dysfunction and severe evaporative dry eye. As previously reported, acute ocular involvement is a risk factor for serious meibomian gland dysfunction in chronic SJS patients [
35].
Goblet cells at the ocular surface secrete mucins, maintain tear film stability and lubricate the eyes [
36,
37]. In this work, we first described the morphology of conjunctival epithelial cells and goblet cells and evaluated the ability of conjunctival goblet cells to secrete MUC5AC in SJS/TEN patients in the very early stage by conjunctival impression cytology. Conjunctival necrosis and inflammation lead to the loss of goblet cells and mucin in the acute phase of SJS or TEN, which eventually leads to advanced dry eye diseases that are deeply troubling for many patients [
38]. In the current study, all patients had serious ocular surface squamous metaplasia, reflected by a marked reduction in goblet cells and enlarged epithelial cells, which even occurred four days from the onset of the disease. The appearance of these ocular pathological changes was significant before the ocular signs. MUC5AC is the main functional gel-forming mucin secreted by conjunctival goblet cells into tears [
36]. The ability of goblet cells to produce MUC5AC is acceptable in the acute phase, which may be due to compensatory effects. Moreover, almost all of the MUC5AC
+ goblet cells were non-degranulated on the ocular surface in acute SJS/TEN patients, indicating a dominant pattern of MUC5AC low-secretory as the ratio of degranulated to non-degranulated MUC5AC
+ goblet cells were a marker of secretion [
39]. The secretion of MUC5AC by conjunctival goblet cells is predictable to decompensate and significantly reduced in the chronic phase of the disease, which is consistent with the reports of a significant decrease or even a complete absence in conjunctival MUC5AC expression/goblet cells in the chronic phase of SJS/TEN [
38,
40].
The inflammatory cascade reaction is considered to play a significant role in the pathogenesis of dry eye diseases, which eventually leads to ocular surface damage via up-regulated expression of inflammatory cytokines [
41]. This is the first study to comprehensively analyze tear cytokines in patients with acute SJS/TEN. The 21 cytokines we detected in tears can be divided into 6 categories: (1) T-helper 1 cytokines: IFN-γ, IL-2, IL-7, and IL-12 that are involved in pro-inflammatory response and cellular immunity; (2) T-helper 2 cytokines: IL-4, IL-5, and IL-13 that are involved in anti-inflammatory response and humoral immunity; (3) T-helper 17 cytokines: IL-17A, IL-21, and IL-23 that are involved in proinflammatory processes and defense against extracellular bacteria and fungi; (4) T-regulatory cytokines: IL-10 that is chiefly involved in immunosuppression; (5) Proinflammatory cytokines: GM-CSF, TNF-α, IL-1β, IL-6, and IL-8; and (6) Chemokine: CXCL11, CX3CL1, CCL3, CCL4, and CCL20 that are chiefly involved in proinflammatory response [
42]. In addition to this, previous studies have shown that IL-1β, IL-6, IL-8, and IL-10 were all involved in the regulation of angiogenesis [
11]. TNF-α was involved in the promotion of apoptosis, while IL-7 was involved in the inhibition of apoptosis. IL-2, IL-8, and GM-CSF were involved in promoting fibrosis, while TNF-α, IL-12, and IFN-γ involved in the prevention of fibrosis [
12,
14]. In our study, tear cytokines were all sharply elevated in acute SJS/TEN patients causing ocular surface cytokine storms, and showing female bias patterns without obvious alteration in males. This may be related to sex hormones [
43]. Tear cytokines including pro- and anti-inflammatory cytokines, pro- and anti-apoptotic cytokines, as well as pro- and anti- fibrosis cytokines all increased, indicating a dysregulated immune response and complete loss of ocular surface homeostasis.
Similar to a previous case report [
15], our study also found that IL-6 and IL-8 in SJS/TEN patients in the acute phase were significantly upregulated. However, unlike the decreased expression of IL-10, TNF-α, and IL-12 in chronic SJS/TEN [
11,
14], our research showed an increase of such cytokines in the acute disease phase. Furthermore, a mixed Th1/Th2 pattern and mixed Th17/Tregs pattern was proved on the ocular surface of SJS/TEN patients in the acute phase due to Th1, Th2, Th17, and Tregs-related cytokine were all increased. This is similar to the results of a previous immunohistochemistry study on skin biopsy tissue in patients with SJS/TEN [
8]. IL-13 is mainly secreted by Th2 cells but also can be secreted by mast cells, and is frequently linked to Th2 cell-related immune responses including allergic diseases, the IgE response, and parasitic infections [
44]. Chemokine CX3CL1 plays an important role in mediating many inflammatory processes and tissue injury [
45]. Conjunctival goblet cells were negatively correlated with tear CX3CL1 and IL-13 in acute SJS/TEN patients, indicating the degree of ocular surface squamous metaplasia increases with ocular surface inflammation. These cytokines may be the predictive biomarkers for the progression of ocular surface involvement in acute SJS/TEN. However, an important limitation of the study is we did not examine the levels of tear antifibrotic cytokine interferon-γ-induced protein 10 (IP-10) and apoptotic-associated cytokines granulysin, which have been proposed to play an important role in the onset of SJS/TEN [
10,
12].
It is worth noting that, even if the patients in our study already receive active systemic glucocorticoid and immune globulin therapy, their ocular surface still suffers from a violent cytokine storm, which represents the organs and tissues that produce tears and palpebral sebum, containing lacrimal glands, accessory lacrimal glands, meibomian glands, ocular surface epithelial cells, and conjunctival goblet cells, all experience a strong immune attack at the very early stage of diseases or even before the onset of ocular symptoms and signs. This strongly suggests that even if there are no clinical ocular symptoms or signs, topical anti-inflammatory treatment may be necessary for the very early stage of these diseases. Systemic immunosuppressant treatment plays a weak role in suppressing ocular surface inflammation [
46]. More attention should be given to topical treatment, including artificial tears, autologous serum eye drops, corticosteroid eye drops, and immunosuppressant eye drops, even amniotic membrane transplantation. Amniotic membrane transplantation can effectively reduce inflammation, inhibit fibrocyte response and scar formation, and stabilize the ocular surface microenvironment [
47,
48], it was highly suggested to be performed in the early stage of SJS/TEN in our study.
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