Thymic stromal lymphopoietin (TSLP) is an interleukin-7 (IL-7) like cytokine that triggers inflammatory responses through activating dendritic cell. It is demonstrated to be involved in a number of disorders, including cancer, gastrointestinal diseases, and autoimmune diseases. In addition, TSLP is also found to be able to induce itch sensation by directly activating the itch sensory neurons. The expression of human TSLP is detected in various tissues such as heart, liver, testis, and prostate. In this study, we report that TSLP was expressed in the human corneal stromal cells, the highly specialized cells that are critical for the function of the cornea. Furthermore, we found that activation of the protease-activated receptor 1 (PAR1) induced secretion of TSLP by the corneal stromal cells. Beside the canonical activator thrombin, PAR1 can also be activated by a few matrix metalloproteases (MMPs) such as MMP1 and MMP13. Since MMPs including MMP1 and MMP13 are upregulated in many corneal diseases as well as the corneal wound healing process, we proposed that TSLP might function as the link between increased protease activity and inflammatory responses or itch sensation in the corneas. © 2017 IUBMB Life, 69(8):606-610, 2017.
Keywords: human corneal stromal cell; matrix metalloprotease; protease-activated receptor 1; thymic stromal lymphopoietin.
© 2017 International Union of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology.