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Retinal innate immune activation in health and disease
Author(s) -
Xu H.
Publication year - 2015
Publication title -
acta ophthalmologica
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.534
H-Index - 87
eISSN - 1755-3768
pISSN - 1755-375X
DOI - 10.1111/j.1755-3768.2015.0155
Subject(s) - innate immune system , retina , immune system , immunology , biology , retinal degeneration , complement system , microglia , classical complement pathway , acquired immune system , retinal , innate lymphoid cell , inflammation , neuroscience , biochemistry
Summary Retina is considered as an immune privileged tissue, yet many inflammatory retinal diseases occur. Circulating immune cells are not able to freely migrate into the healthy retina due to the blood retina barrier. Retina is protected by its own innate immune system, including microglia, perivascular macrophages, a small number of dendritic cells and the complement system. When retina suffers from exogenous/endogenous insults, a well‐controlled innate immune response is initiated to maintain homeostasis and restore functionality, such response is therefore beneficial. Dysregulation or malfunction of the innate immune response may result in excessive production of inflammatory mediators that may contribute to retinal pathology. The presentation will discuss how innate immune response is controlled in the retina, and the potential contribution of uncontrolled or dysregulated innate immune activation to retinal lesion development in common sight‐threatening diseases such as age‐related retinal degeneration.