Lin JB, Pepple KL, Concepcion C, Korshunova Y, Paley MA, Paley GL, Laurent J, Apte RS, Hassman LM. Aqueous Macrophages Contribute to Conserved CCL2 and CXCL10 Gradients in Uveitis.
Ophthalmol Sci 2024;
4:100453. [PMID:
38650614 PMCID:
PMC11033188 DOI:
10.1016/j.xops.2023.100453]
[Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/23/2023] [Revised: 12/03/2023] [Accepted: 12/04/2023] [Indexed: 04/25/2024]
Abstract
Purpose
Uveitis is a heterogenous group of inflammatory eye disease for which current cytokine-targeted immune therapies are effective for only a subset of patients. We hypothesized that despite pathophysiologic nuances that differentiate individual disease states, all forms of eye inflammation might share common mechanisms for immune cell recruitment. Identifying these mechanisms is critical for developing novel, broadly acting therapeutic strategies.
Design
Experimental study.
Subjects
Biospecimens from patients with active or inactive uveitis and healthy controls.
Methods
Protein concentration and single cell gene expression were assessed in aqueous fluid biopsies and plasma samples from deidentified patients with uveitis or healthy controls.
Main Outcome Measures
The concentration of 31 inflammatory proteins was measured in all aqueous samples, as well as plasma samples from patients with active uveitis. Chemokine and cytokine ligand and receptor expression were assessed in individual cell types from aqueous biopsies obtained from patients with active uveitis.
Results
We identified 6 chemokines that were both elevated in active uveitis compared with controls and enriched in aqueous compared with plasma during active uveitis (C-C motif chemokine ligand [CCL]2, C-X-C motif chemokine ligand [CXCL]10, CXCL9, CXCL8, CCL3, and CCL14), forming potential gradients for migration of immune cells from the blood to the eye. Of these, CCL2 and CXCL10 were consistently enriched in the aqueous of all patients in our cohort, as well as in a larger cohort of patients from a previously published study. These data suggest that CCL2 and CXCL10 are key mediators in immune cell migration to the eye during uveitis. Next, single cell RNA sequencing suggested that macrophages contribute to aqueous enrichment of CCL2 and CXCL10 during human uveitis. Finally, using chemokine ligand and receptor expression mapping, we identified a broad signaling network for macrophage-derived CCL2 and CXCL10 in human uveitis.
Conclusions
These data suggest that ocular macrophages may play a central role, via CCL2 and CXCL10 production, in recruiting inflammatory cells to the eye in patients with uveitis.
Financial Disclosures
Proprietary or commercial disclosure may be found in the Footnotes and Disclosures at the end of this article.
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