Neuroinflammation in glaucoma: A new opportunity

Pete A Williams; Nick Marsh-Armstrong; Gareth R Howell; Lasker/IRRF Initiative on Astrocytes and Glaucomatous Neurodegeneration Participants

doi:10.1016/j.exer.2017.02.014

Neuroinflammation in glaucoma: A new opportunity

Exp Eye Res. 2017 Apr:157:20-27. doi: 10.1016/j.exer.2017.02.014. Epub 2017 Feb 24.

Authors

Pete A Williams¹, Nick Marsh-Armstrong², Gareth R Howell³; Lasker/IRRF Initiative on Astrocytes and Glaucomatous Neurodegeneration Participants

Collaborators

Lasker/IRRF Initiative on Astrocytes and Glaucomatous Neurodegeneration Participants:
Alejandra Bosco⁴, John Danias⁵, John Simon¹, Adriana Di Polo⁶, Markus H Kuehn⁷, Serge Przedborski⁸, Martin Raff⁹, Ian Trounce¹⁰

Affiliations

¹ The Jackson Laboratory, Bar Harbor, ME, USA.
² The Solomon H. Snyder Department of Neuroscience, The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, USA; Hugo W. Moser Research Institute, Kennedy Krieger Institute, Baltimore, MD, USA.
³ The Jackson Laboratory, Bar Harbor, ME, USA; Graduate Program of Genetics, Sackler School of Graduate Biomedical Sciences, Tufts University, Boston, MA, USA. Electronic address: gareth.howell@jax.org.
⁴ University of Utah, School of Medicine, Salt Lake City, UT, USA.
⁵ Department of Ophthalmology, SUNY Downstate, NY, USA.
⁶ Department of Neuroscience and Centre de Recherche du Centre Hospitalier de l'Université de Montréal, Université de Montréal, Montréal, Québec, Canada.
⁷ Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences, Carver College of Medicine, University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA, USA.
⁸ Departments of Pathology & Cell Biology, Columbia University Medical Center, NY, USA.
⁹ MRC Laboratory for Molecular Cell Biology, University College London, London, UK.
¹⁰ Centre for Eye Research Australia, Royal Victorian Eye and Ear Hospital, University of Melbourne, East Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.

Abstract

Mounting evidence suggests neuroinflammation is a key process in glaucoma, yet the precise roles are not known. Understanding these complex processes, which may also be a key in other common neurodegenerations such as Alzheimer's disease, will lead to targeted therapeutics for a disease that affects as many as 80 million people worldwide. Here, we define neuroinflammation as any immune-relevant response by a variety of cell types including astrocytes, microglia, and peripherally derived cells occurring in the optic nerve head and/or retina. In this review article, we first discuss clinical evidence for neuroinflammation in glaucoma and define neuroinflammation in glaucoma. We then review the inflammatory pathways that have been associated with glaucoma. Finally, we set out key research directions that we believe will greatly advance our understanding of the role of neuroinflammation in glaucoma. This review arose from a discussion of neuroinflammation in glaucoma at the 2015 meeting of The Lasker/IRRF Initiative for Innovation in Vision Science. This manuscript sets out to summarize one of these sessions; "Inflammation and Glaucomatous Neurodegeneration", as well as to review the current state of the literature surrounding neuroinflammation in glaucoma.

Keywords: Astrocyte; Glaucoma; Inflammation; Lasker; Microglia; Monocyte; Neurodegeneration.

Publication types

Review

MeSH terms

Animals
Astrocytes / pathology
Glaucoma / physiopathology*
Humans
Inflammation / physiopathology*
Optic Nerve / immunology*
Optic Neuritis / physiopathology*
Retinal Ganglion Cells / immunology*

Grants and funding

R01 EY021525/EY/NEI NIH HHS/United States