AIM: To analyze the change of serum inflammatory factors in glaucoma patients at different stages and its clinical significance.

METHODS:Totally 70 cases of 128 eyes with primary open-angle glaucoma in our hospital from January 2014 to August 2016 were selected. According to the mean defect of visual field, they were divided into light(observation Group 1), moderate(observation Group 2)and heavy group(observation Group 3). Another 65 cases of 130 eyes with cataract were taken as the control group in our hospital. The observation and expression of serum cytokines in these patients with glaucoma were taken.

RESULTS: There was no significant difference in serum IL-2 and IFN- γ levels between the two groups(P>0.05). The sIL-2R and IL-4 levels in the glaucoma group were higher than those in the control group, and the levels of IL-6 and IL-12 were lower than those of the control group(P<0.05). The IOP and proportion of myopia in the glaucoma group was higher than that in the control group, the difference was not statistically significant(P<0.05). The ratio of moderate myopia to severe myopia in each group was not statistically significant(P>0.05). To observe the low myopia ratio in Group 3 of patients, it was less than observation Group 1 and observation Group 2(P>0.05). There was no statistically significant difference between observation Group 1 and 2 of patients on IL-2, sIL-2R, IL-4, IL-6 and IFN-γ levels(P>0.05). The level of sIL-2R in the Group 3 was higher than that in the Group 1, and the level of IL-12 was lower than that in the Group 1 and in the Group 2(P<0.05). There was no significant difference in IL-2, IL-4, IL-6 and IFN-γ levels between the glaucoma patients(P>0.05). The IOP level and the proportion of myopia in the Group 3 were higher than those in the Group 1 and the Group 2 were observed, the difference was statistically significant(P<0.05). The intraocular pressure was higher in Group 2 than in group 1(P<0.05). There was no statistically significant difference on proportion of myopia between observation Group 1 and observation Group 2(P>0.05).

CONCLUSION: The levels of serum IL-12, sIL-2R and intraocular pressure in patients with primary open-angle glaucoma fluctuated significantly at different stages of the nerve injury, indicating that the immune response and intraocular pressure were involved in the process of optic nerve damage.