title: Review of Systemic Immunosuppression for Autoimmune Uveitis.
abstract: The purpose of this review is to comprehensively examine the various therapeutic agents available to treat autoimmune eye disease, their indications, clinical safety and recent developments. The stepladder approach is reviewed, including corticosteroid administration of various forms, classic immunomodulators, and newer biologic response modifiers. The authors present that corticosteroid monotherapy is almost never curative and carries significant side effects, while immunomodulatory therapy, when used appropriately as way to induce steroid-free remission, carries far less risk of causing long-term complications and provides greater potential of altering the immune system to induce a durable remission.
authors.affiliation: Massachusetts Eye Research and Surgery Institution (MERSI), Ocular Immunology and Uveitis Foundation (OIUF), 5 Cambridge Center, 8th Floor, Cambridge, MA, 02142, USA.
authors.forename: Claudia
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Castiblanco
authors.affiliation: Massachusetts Eye Research and Surgery Institution (MERSI), Ocular Immunology and Uveitis Foundation (OIUF), 5 Cambridge Center, 8th Floor, Cambridge, MA, 02142, USA. sfoster@mersi.com.|Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA. sfoster@mersi.com.
authors.forename: C Stephen
authors.initials: CS
authors.lastname: Foster
keywords: Corticosteroid; Immunomodulatory therapy; Inflammation; Ophthalmology; Uveitis