Quiescent and Active Tear Protein Profiles to Predict Vernal Keratoconjunctivitis Reactivation

Table 3

Summary of the protein profile expression in all subgroups. The 16 differentially expressed proteins (candidate biomarkers) are functionally grouped in specific clusters: cytokines (Th1-Th2-Th9-Th17 subtypes), growth factors (neurotrophins and fibrogenic/angiogenic factors), chemokines/adhesion molecules, tissue proteases (specific ECM enzymes/inhibitors), and other molecules (soluble receptors and referring proteins). Column 2 provides the significance (Sig.) for active and quiescent biomarkers, as obtained with respect to controls (; ; ; ; two-sided unpaired -test analysis). The related quiescent: active comparisons (fold changes (FC)), values and significances are shown. Bold font indicates candidates common to quiescent and active VKC (). The last column indicates each candidate incthe related VKC literature and the symbol highlights only those papers concerning VKC tissues.

Clusters; Candidate biomarkers	Sig., cases versus controls		Active versus quiescent			Literature
	Quiescent	Active	FC	value	Sig.	Ref
Cytokines
IL1β			1.52	0.2326		[6]
IL15			1.83	0.0628
IL21			1.54	0.1714
Growth factors
βNGF			1.34	0.3885		[13, 40]
NT4			1.81	0.0410
BDNF			1.33	0.3580		[41]
βFGF			2.24	0.0286		[41]
SCF			1.28	0.4784		[41]
Tissue proteases
MMP1			2.01	0.0417		[41]
MMP2			1.69	0.0764		[41]
Eotaxin2			3.19	0.1132		[6, 34, 42]
TACE			1.95	0.0554
MIP1α			1.32	0.4775
MIP3α			1.55	0.1446
NCAM1			1.85	0.0789
ICAM2			2.34	0.0226		[34]

Two-sided unpaired -test analysis (fold changes (FC), values, and case/control significance (Sig.; ; ; ; )) (see M&M).