Immune Responses to Antigens in Non-infectious Eye Inflammatory Diseases

Ocular inflammatory diseases can lead to visual loss in adults as well as in children. These conditions are usually characterized by repeated exacerbations and remissions. The underlying cause of majority of these conditions is not clear even though an autoimmune mechanism has been implicated. Various studies have reported an altered immunological profile in these patients. An underlying immune mechanism has been thought to be playing a role in at least some of the ocular inflammatory diseases. In addition, evidence from literature also suggests inflammatory disease may be an important mechanism leading to Age related macular degeneration and Diabetic retinopathy, two leading causes for vision loss. However, very little is known about the involvement of immune components in these patients. This protocol proposes to test for proliferative cell mediated and humoral responses against self-antigens from patients with ocular inflammatory diseases, AMD and diabetic retinopathy. Patients will be recruited from other ongoing protocols. An attempt would be made to find any correlation between the clinical disease and the immunological findings. These findings will not be used for diagnostic nor therapeutic purposes.