Figure Legends
Figure 1: Sphingolipid Metabolism
Figure 2A: mRNA expression of the key enzymes of sphingolipid metabolism in the conjunctival cells of VKC.
UGCG: UDP-Glucose Ceramide Glucosyltransferase; CERK: Ceramide Kinase; SPHK1: Sphingosine Kinase 1; ACER: Alkaline ceramidase; SGMS2: Sphingomyelin Synthase; ASMA: Acid sphingomyelinase; ASAH1: Acid ceramidase; SGPL: Sphingosine-1-phosphate lyase
*p<0.05; **p<0.01 is the significance based on comparison of control versus VKC for the corresponding enzyme.
Control: n=60 and VKC: n=87
Figure 2B: S1P1 and S1P3 receptor expressions in the conjunctival cells of VKC
*p<0.01 is a comparison of control vs VKC;
S1P1R: Control, n=13 and VKC, n= 13; S1P3R: Control, n=13 and VKC, n=9
Figure 2C: Expression of fibrosis marker α-Smooth Muscle Actin, Vimentin and apoptosis markers BCl2 and Bax
p<0.05; ** P<0.01: are the comparison between control and VKC
Control, n=22 ; VKC, n= 19
Figure 3: Tear sphingolipids in VKC patients analyzed using LC-MS/MS.
Figure 3A : Tear Sphingolipids in control and Total VKC
Figure 3B: Tear sphingolipids in Refractory VKC (R-VKC) and Non-Refractory VKC (NR-VKC). Details of pooled sample sizes in each group is given in the methods section.
1: C17 Ceramide (d18:1/17:0); 2: Sphingosine-1-Phosphate (d18:1); 3: Sphingosine-1-Phosphate (d20:1); 4: Sphingosine-1-Phosphate (d17:1); 5: Sphinganine-1-Phosphate (d20:0); 6: sphinganine-1-phosphate (d17:0); 7: Sphinganine-1-Phosphate (d18:0); 8: C8 Ceramide-1-Phosphate (d18:1/8:0); 9: C8 Ceramide-1-Phosphate (d17:1/8:0); 10: C2 Ceramide-1-Phosphate (d18:1/2:0); 11: Sphingosine-1-Phosphate (d17:1) (DMA Adduct). X-axis represents the Mean concentration in (ng/ml) in the tear samples Y axis represents the different groups. * p<0.05; ** P<0.01:***p<0.001 is the comparison between control vs VKC in Fig 3a. and R-VKC vs NR-VKC in Fig 3b.# p<0.05; ## P<0.01:###p<0.001 is the comparison between control vs R-VKC
Tear specimen were analyzed after making pooled sets of each group.
Control: 7 pooled sets; VKC: 22 sets (NR-VKC: 6 sets; and R-VKC: 16). One set is a pool of 3 tear specimen in the group