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Purpose. The interferon-γ-inducing factor Interleukin-18 (IL-18)is a recently described cytokine that appears to have multiple important pro-inflammatoryeffects including the induction of interferon-γ (IFN-γ) by activatedT-cells. The expression of IL-18 by human cornea has not been previously reported.In the present study, we examine the possibility that human corneal epithelialcells are capable of producing this leukocyte-activating factor which mayplay an important role in IFN-γ-dependent inflammation responses in thecornea. Methods. Northern blot analysis and ELISA were used to investigatethe in vitro expression of IL-18 mRNA and protein respectively inprimary (HCEC) and transformed human corneal epithelial cells (HCET). To determineif IL-18 expression was modulated by pro-inflammatory mediators, cells weretreated with lipopolysaccharide (LPS), phorbol 12-myristate 13-acetate (PMA)or synthetic double stranded RNA (poly dI : dC). IL-18 bioactivity was determinedin a leukocyte interferon-γ induction assay and IL-18 was immunolocalizedin whole human cornea by immunohistochemistry using a specific anti-IL-18antibody. Results. IL-18 mRNA and bioactive protein was constitutively expressedby human corneal epithelial cells and upregulated by PMA, LPS and poly dI: dC. The constitutive expression of IL-18 protein immunoreactivity was alsodemonstrated in the epithelial cells of whole human cornea tissue. Conclusions. This is the first study demonstrating that cornealepithelial cells are capable of producing the IFN-γ inducing factor IL-18.Increased bioactive corneal IL-18 production can be induced by a number ofpro-inflammatory agents and may play an important role in initiating γ-interferon-mediatedinflammatory responses in the cornea. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A 64-year-old woman with mixed cellularity Hodgkin's disease diagnosed in 1972 developed a malignant lymphoma of the conjunctiva 14 years later. She had undergone combined chemotherapy and radiation therapy for Hodgkin's disease. Non-Hodgkin's lymphomas developing after Hodgkin's disease have been reported with increasing frequency in recent years. It is important to recognise a separate malignant lymphoma in a patient with Hodgkin's disease because of the different treatment offered for each of these diseases. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

We identified three eyes that had undergone enucleation after transscleral resection of uveal melanoma. Two enucleated eyes with microscopically positive margins of resection exhibited no evidence of residual melanoma and these patients were alive without metastasis with at least four years′ follow-up. One eye with a transected melanoma contained residual melanoma and that patient died with metastatic melanoma to the liver three years after enucleation. There appear to be at least two general types of positive surgical margins of resection of uveal melanoma: microscopically positive margins and macroscopically positive (transected) margins of resection.