Abstract

In this study we report the first gel based proteomic analysis of an inflammed dry eye utilising a clinically-based non-invasive methodology for collection of a specimen from the posterior lid and inferior conjunctival mucosa of the subject. This multidimensional technique allowed the identification of 592 proteins, having a MOWSE score of greater than 40, using the heuristic tool PROVALT. Automated curation of this list using an inbuilt randomised database searching tool with false discovery rate set at 1% significantly reduced this list to 86 proteins. Additional manual curation resulted in the final positive identification of 75 proteins. These identified proteins were functionally classified and physiochemically characterised. This led to the identification of a number of proteins involved in cell structure, inflammation, and the innate immune response. Contained within these proteins were a number of potential biomarkers of not only dry eye syndrome but also lacrimal gland acinar cell function such as lacritin, calgranulin A and lacrimal proline-rich protein 4.