Preliminary study on ex vivo efficacy of curcumin‑silver nanoparticles as a treatment of human pterygium-derived keratinocytes

Pterygium is a progressive disease of the human eye in which an invasive growth arises from the sub-conjunctival tissue and extends onto the cornea, eventually reaching the pupil and compromising visual function. This disease is commonly diffused in human population living in the tropical region with an average incidence of 7 % of cases in India, Singapore and China and peaks of 30 % in Japan. The available surgical or pharmacological treatments are only partially successful in stopping the disease and imply a great risk of aggressive relapse. The proposed inorganic nanoparticles conjugated with curcumin have demonstrably been able to reduce of 30 % ± 0.2 % the vitality of pterygium keratinocytes extracted by affected patients, thus offering an alternative therapeutic option for the containment of this human disease.