MEASUREMENT OF INTERLEUKIN-2 AND INTERLEUKIN-8 IN SERA OF PATIENTS INFECTED WITH ADENOVIRAL KERATOCON- JUNCTIVITIS IN IRAQ

Seventy conjunctival swabs and sera sample were collected from patients suffering from keratoconjunctivitis who were suspected to be infected with Human Adenovirus, whom were aged 1 to 68 years including both sexes. Samples were taken from patients admitted to Ibn Al-Haitham Hospital for Ophthalmology/ Baghdad, Al-Hilla Teaching Hospital/ Babylon, AlImam Al-Sadiq Hospital/ Babylon and Al Garaawi Ophthalmology Specialist Center/ Babylon. The sampling period lasted from January to April 2019. Samples of conjunctival swabs were collected and placed in viral transport medium (VTM) and transported to the laboratory inside cool box to be stored at (-80°C). Blood samples were also collected from the patients and each sample were evacuated inside Gel and Clot activator vacuum tubes. The serum samples were separated and stored in the freezer at -20°C. The samples were analyzed in vitro using the enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) to measure interleukins levels including IL-2 and IL-8. Real-time PCR results showed that 64 positive samples (91.4%) out of 70 samples tested represented different types of Human Adenovirus, while 6 samples were negative (8.6%) for this virus. The virus load was measured and its values were found to be range from (1.32 × 103 -6.62 × 1023). Whereas the results of control samples were negative for Human Adenovirus. The results showed that the different age groups are susceptible to infection with Adenoviral keratoconjunctivitis and a slight increase in the number of infections in the age group (20-40) years. The results also showed that males were more susceptible to infection with the Adenovirus than females. In terms of residential areas, it was found that the rate of infection with Human Adenovirus in urban areas more than those in rural areas. The study also found that individuals with diabetes, chronic illnesses, or obesity, as well as individuals with other types of Human Adenovirus infection, had the same chance of infection with the Adenovirus in comparison with individuals of healthy control group. ELISA test for serum samples also showed that the levels of IL-2 and IL-8 in samples infected with Human Adenovirus were significantly higher than those of healthy control groups. Besides, there was highly significant positive correlation between log IL-2 and log IL-8 (r = 0.500; P  0.001). Analytical results of the study showed that there was no correlation between IL2 and IL-8 levels in sera of patients suffering from Adenoviral keratoconjunctivitis with sex, age, BMI and Residency in urban or rural as well as patients with diabetes and patients who have previously infected with other types Human Adenovirus keratoconjunctivitis. The study also showed a significant and positive correlation of log IL-2 with the log viral load (r = 0.268; P = 0.032). Whereas, there was not significantly correlated of log IL-8 with the log viral load (r = 0.076; P = 0.550). Finally, current results showed an increased level of IL-2 in sera sample taken from patients in Baghdad governorate compared to samples taken from patients in Babylon province with very significant differences (P  0.001). Interleukin 8 showed a significant difference in females sera sample compared with male sera (P = 0.024) and significant increase in sera of patients with chronic disease (P  0.014).