New focus on ocular inflammation and possible therapeutic pathways

A new study published in The American Journal of Pathology provides new evidence that immune cells enter the retina via the body's standard pathway, identifying Platelet Endothelial Cell Adhesion Molecule (PECAM; also known as CD31) as the gatekeeper and neutrophils as proresolving mediators. This research offers new insights into how eye inflammation develops and could lead to better-targeted treatment options.

Immune system may slow degenerative eye disease

A new study shows that the complement system, part of the innate immune system, plays a protective role to slow retinal degeneration in a mouse model of retinitis pigmentosa, an inherited eye disease. This surprising discovery contradicts previous studies of other eye diseases suggesting that the complement system worsens retinal degeneration. 

The research was performed by scientists at the National Eye Institute (NEI), part of the National Institutes of Health, and appears in the Journal of Experimental Medicine.

Ocular treatment likely to become first Gene Therapy approved in US

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Spark Therapeutics has announced positive results from the Phase 3 pivotal trial of its lead gene therapy product candidate, SPK-RPE65, for the treatment of RPE65-mediated inherited retinal dystrophies (IRDs). These results represent the first successful randomized, controlled Phase 3 trial ever completed in gene therapy for a genetic disease.