Vol 39 No. 2 Original Article PDF

Comparison of the In-Vitro Effects of Bevacizumab, Mitomycin-C, 5-Fluorouracil, and Triamcinolone Acetonide on the Viability of Cultured Human Tenon’s Fibroblasts

Pius Jonas Ocampo, MD, Ma. Margarita Lat-Luna, MD, Joseph Anthony Tumbocon, MD, Polly Chao-Po, MD,1 Andrei Martin, MD

Objective: To evaluate and compare the effects of bevacizumab, mitomycin-C (MMC), 5-fluorouracil (5-FU), and triamcinolone acetonide (TA) on the viability of cultured human Tenon’s capsule fibroblasts (cHTF) in vitro.

Methods: Human Tenon’s fibroblasts (HTF) were harvested and cultured in a Roswell-Park-Memorial-Institute (RPMI) media. MMC, 5-FU, bevacizumab, and TA were administered to the cHTF at 3-fold decreasing concentrations starting from 20 ug, 5 mg, 25 mg, and 4 mg respectively. A negative control/untreated group containing RPMI media only was included in the study. Fibroblast cell viability was assessed using resazurin fluorimetric assay. Half-maximal inhibitory concentration (IC50) was computed for agents which showed significant decrease in cHTF viability compared to the untreated group.

Results: There was no significant difference in cHTF viability between the untreated control group compared to 5-FU (p=0.97), bevacizumab (p=0.10), and TA (p=0.06) groups. Mitomycin-C showed a significant decrease in cHTF viability (p<0.001) which was dose dependent. The IC50 of MMC was computed at 12.16 ug using the prism software.

Conclusion: Mitomycin-C demonstrated dose-dependent decrease in viability of cultured human Tenon’s fibroblasts. 5-FU, bevacizumab, and triamcinolone did not show this effect.

Keywords: Mitomycin-C, 5-fluorouracil, Bevacizumab, Triamcinolone acetonide, Fibroblast, Trabeculectomy