Schlereth, Simona - CAP 40

Therapeutic regulation of innate immune responses in ocular allergy

PD Dr. Simona Schlereth

Dept. of Ophthalmology I FEBO

Senior Physician

CMMC - PI - CAP 40

simona.schlereth@uk-koeln.de

0221 478-98896

Lab Website

CMMC Profile Page

Curriculum Vitae (CV)

Publications on PubMed

Dept. of Ophthalmology I FEBO

Kerpener Str. 62

50937 Köln

Introduction

Our research interest is the therapeutic regulation of innate immune responses in diseases of the ocular surface, including the cornea, sclera and conjunctiva. The eye is an immune privileged organ and several immune responses differ from immune responses in other organs. We consider the innate immune responses to be particularly important because these are the first immune responses to a variety of stimuli.

Clinical Relevance

Our research focus is on immunity and inflammation in diseases of the eye, more specific in ocular allergy, corneal transplantation and ocular tumors. Allergic conjunctivitis is one of the most common forms of conjunctivitis. 40% of the population reported experiencing at least 1 occurrence of ocular allergic symptoms in the past 12 months. Corticosteroids are used as therapeutic agents for allergies and corneal transplants, which are associated with numerous side effects such as glaucoma and cataract formation, particularly in the eye.While the innate immune responses are relatively too strong in the case of allergies, they are too weak in the case of tumours. A better understanding of the role of the innate immune system in the diseases should help in the development of new therapies.

Figure 1

Fig. 1: Lymphatic vessels in the mouse, stained for lymphatic markes VE-cadherin, PECAM1, LYVE1, PROX1 (from Peil J, et al. New Therapeutic Approaches for Conjunctival Melanoma-What We Know So Far and Where Therapy Is Potentially Heading: Focus on Lymphatic Vessels and Dendritic Cells. Int J Mol Sci. 2022 Jan 27;23(3):1478. )

Figure 2

Fig. 2: Human corneas in the illumination of the slit lamp. Diffuse opacities in the anterior stroma of an eye after a long-standing bullous keratopathy treated with DMEK A) before phototherapeutic keratectomy and B) after phototherapeutic keratectomy. Here the opacities are to a large extent removed. (from: Vernin A, et al.. Excimer Laser Phototherapeutic Keratectomy for Anterior Corneal Opacification After Descemet Membrane Endothelial Keratoplasty. Cornea. 2024 Jan 1;43(1):95-104.)

Aims

Therapeutic regulation of immune responses in ocular allergy.

Perspective

A better understanding of the basics of innate defence should form the basis for future clinical studies.