Safety and efficacy of combination of suberoylamilide hydroxyamic acid and mitomycin C in reducing pro-fibrotic changes in human corneal epithelial cells

Corneal haze post refractive surgery is prevented by mitomycin c (MMC) treatment though it can lead to corneal endothelial damage, persistent epithelial defects and necrosis of cells. Suberanilohydroxamic acid (SAHA) however has been proposed to prevent corneal haze without any adverse effects. For clinical application we have investigated the short and long term outcome of cells exposed to SAHA. Human donor cornea, cultured limbal epithelial cells, corneal rims and lenticules were incubated with SAHA and MMC. The cells/tissue was then analyzed by RT-qPCR, immunofluorescence and western blot for markers of apoptosis and fibrosis. The results reveal that short term exposure of SAHA and SAHA + MMC reduced apoptosis levels and increased αSMA expression compared to those treated with MMC. Epithelial cells derived from cultured corneal rim that were incubated with the MMC, SAHA or MMC + SAHA revealed enhanced apoptosis, reduced levels of CK3/CK12, ∆NP63 and COL4A compared to other treatments. In SAHA treated lenticules TGFβ induced fibrosis was reduced. The results imply that MMC treatment for corneal haze has both short term and long term adverse effects on cells and the cellular properties. However, a combinatorial treatment of SAHA + MMC prevents expression of corneal fibrotic markers without causing any adverse effect on cellular properties.