# Genetic Susceptibility to Contact Lens Related Microbial Keratitis

> **NIH NIH R21** · CASE WESTERN RESERVE UNIVERSITY · 2020 · $241,000

## Abstract

Project Summary
Contact lens wear is the leading risk factor for microbial keratitis (MK) in developed countries with
a population attributable risk of 65%. Our previous studies have shown that one-third to one-half
of soft lenses wearers harbor abnormal microbial bioburden on their lenses or storage cases,
including highly pathogenic organisms, yet the vast majority of patients do not experience
infection. Therefore, bioburden exposure is necessary but insufficient for susceptibility to contact
lens associated MK. This disorder is similar to other infectious diseases where only a fraction of
the exposed individuals develop clinical disease, suggesting the importance of the resistance
phenotype. Host immunity and its genetic underpinning is critical to comprehending disease
etiology, wherein the immune response is a balance between promoting quick and active
pathogen clearance vs. allowing for greater tolerance. We propose to test the hypothesis that
genomic differences in immune pathways render a contact lens wearer more susceptible to MK
by enrolling well defined cases and super-controls in a large-scale genomic study and conduct
genotyping utilizing the Infinium ImmunoArray. To increase our ability to detect genetic variants
associated with resistance to infection, super-controls will be defined as exposed individuals
exhibiting abnormal bioburden on lenses or storage cases, plus behavior known to increase risk
for MK, but no history of disease. We will also execute an extended analysis utilizing
unphenotyped controls obtained from dbGaP to increase power for our association analyses. In
sum, we propose to identify novel loci for contact lens associated MK.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 9876993
- **Project number:** 5R21EY029445-02
- **Recipient organization:** CASE WESTERN RESERVE UNIVERSITY
- **Principal Investigator:** SUDHA K IYENGAR
- **Activity code:** R21 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2020
- **Award amount:** $241,000
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2019-03-01 → 2022-02-28

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/9876993

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 9876993, Genetic Susceptibility to Contact Lens Related Microbial Keratitis (5R21EY029445-02). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-22 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/9876993. Licensed CC0.

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