The effect of blue light exposure in an ocular melanoma animal model

Twenty New Zealand albino rabbits were injected with 1.0 × 106 human UM cells (92.1) in the suprachoroidal space of the right eye. Animals were equally divided into two groups; the experimental group was exposed to blue light, while the control group was protected from blue light exposure. The eyes were enucleated after sacrifice and the proliferation rates of the re-cultured tumor cells were assessed using a Sulforhodamine-B assay. Cells were re-cultured for 1 passage only in order to maintain any in vivo cellular changes. Furthermore, Proliferating Cell Nuclear Antigen (PCNA) protein expression was used to ascertain differences in cellular proliferation between both groups in formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded eyes (FFPE).Blue light exposure led to a statistically significant increase in proliferation for cell lines derived from intraocular tumors (p < 0.01). PCNA expression was significantly higher in the FFPE blue light treated group when compared to controls (p = 0.0096).There is an increasing amount of data suggesting that blue light exposure may influence the progression of UM. Our results support this notion and warrant further studies to evaluate the ability of blue light filtering lenses to slow disease progression in UM patients.Uveal Melanoma (UM) is the most common primary malignant intraocular tumor in adults [1]. The incidence rate for UM ranges from 4.3–10.9 cases per million, depending on the specific criteria used to diagnose this disease [2]. Although it is a relatively uncommon malignancy, approximately 50% of all patients initially diagnosed with UM will end up developing liver metastasis within 10–15 years [3]. Predispositions to this disease include the presence of choroidal nevi, which occur quite frequently within the aging population.With age, the human lens becomes progressively more yellow. This process is thought to effectively filter more blue light from passing through the yellowed lens [4,5]. Following cataract surgery, the removal of