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