Immunology and Uveitis

News about immunology and uveitis from Harvard Medical School Department of Ophthalmology

Mass. Eye and Ear Research Team Link Immune Cells to Uveitis

April 30, 2019

New research led by Kip Connor, PhD, finds that microglia—the primary immune cells of the central nervous system, including the retina—play a vital role in regulating neuroinflammation in autoimmune uveitis. The study, published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences and featured on eyewire News, may one day lead to better treatment targets for the disease.

In the preclinical model of autoimmune uveitis, the researchers describe, for the first time, a role for microglia in directing the initiation of autoimmune uveitis by orchestrating the inflammatory response within the retina. In reaction to disease induction, microglia closely associate with the retinal vasculature and facilitate inflammatory immune cell entry past the blood brain, or ocular, barrier into the retina. When the researchers depleted microglia in this model, they observed that the disease was completely blocked.

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Systemic therapy outperforms intraocular implant for treating uveitis

May 6, 2017

After seven years, multi-center clinical trial finds systemic therapy better preserves visual acuity and has fewer side effects 

Boston, Mass. — Systemic therapy consisting of corticosteroids and immunosuppressants preserved vision of uveitis patients better – and had fewer adverse outcomes – than a long-lasting corticosteroid intraocular implant, according to a clinical trial funded by the National Eye Institute (NEI). After seven years, visual acuity on average remained stable among participants on systemic therapy but...

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