Anti-inflammatory therapy for diabetic retinopathy

Abstract

Diabetic retinopathy (DR) is one of the most common complications of diabetes. This devastating disease is a leading cause of blindness in people of working age in industrialized countries and affects the daily lives of millions of people. Despite tight glycemic control, blood pressure control, and lipid-lowering therapy, the number of DR patients keeps growing and therapeutic approaches are limited. Moreover, there are significant limitations and side-effects for the current therapies. Thus, there is a great need for development of new strategies for prevention and treatment of DR. Studies have shown that DR has prominent features of chronic, subclinical inflammation. This review will focus on the role of inflammation in DR and summarize the progress of studies of anti-inflammatory strategies for DR.

Diabetic retinopathy: current understanding, mechanisms, and treatment strategies

“…While this response promotes homeostasis and normal tissue repair, in the short-term, chronic parainflammation contributes to initiation and progression of multiple disease processes (89). Within this context, the role of inflammation in driving the progression of DR is increasingly better appreciated (90,91). As diabetes progresses, the retina exhibits multiple elements of chronic, subclinical inflammation, including immune cell activation and production of inflammatory molecules.…”

Neural inflammation and the microglial response in diabetic retinopathy

“…It is also possible that microglial activation is a response to systemic low-grade inflammation caused by diabetes. Chronic low-grade inflammation is a central theme in many diabetic complications, including retinopathy [59,60]. Markers of systemic inflammation have been found to be associated with diabetic complications [61].…”

Critical Role of the CXCL10/C-X-C Chemokine Receptor 3 Axis in Promoting Leukocyte Recruitment and Neuronal Injury during Traumatic Optic Neuropathy Induced by Optic Nerve Crush

“…66 The value of leukocyte imaging in retinal diseases has not been established, although leukostasis is a key feature of diabetic retinopathy. 67 By combination of leukocytes labeling with GFP and noninvasive SLO imaging, we demonstrated that leukocyte rolling, adhesion, and infiltration in retinal vessels occur much earlier than other pathological changes after axonal injury, including RGC loss and reduction of retinal ERG response. Because leukocyte recruitment occurs not only as an early response to RGC injury but also contributes to RGC death, our data suggest that leukocyte recruitment has the features of a biomarker and warrants further investigation to determine whether leukocyte imaging in the retina could be used to foresee the severity of neuronal injury in TON and predict the outcome of emerging therapeutic interventions.…”