title: Pattern recognition receptors in microbial keratitis.
abstract: Microbial keratitis is a significant cause of global visual impairment and blindness. Corneal infection can be caused by a wide variety of pathogens, each of which exhibits a range of mechanisms by which the immune system is activated. The complexity of the immune response to corneal infection is only now beginning to be elucidated. Crucial to the cornea's defences are the pattern-recognition receptors: Toll-like and Nod-like receptors and the subsequent activation of inflammatory pathways. These inflammatory pathways include the inflammasome and can lead to significant tissue destruction and corneal damage, with the potential for resultant blindness. Understanding the immune mechanisms behind this tissue destruction may enable improved identification of therapeutic targets to aid development of more specific therapies for reducing corneal damage in infectious keratitis. This review summarises current knowledge of pattern-recognition receptors and their downstream pathways in response to the major keratitis-causing organisms and alludes to potential therapeutic approaches that could alleviate corneal blindness.
authors.affiliation: Division of Clinical and Experimental Sciences, Faculty of Medicine, University of Southampton, Southampton, UK.|University Hospital Southampton NHS Foundation Trust, Southampton, UK.
authors.forename: M-A
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Taube
authors.affiliation: Division of Clinical and Experimental Sciences, Faculty of Medicine, University of Southampton, Southampton, UK.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: del Mar Cendra
authors.affiliation: Division of Clinical and Experimental Sciences, Faculty of Medicine, University of Southampton, Southampton, UK.|University Hospital Southampton NHS Foundation Trust, Southampton, UK.
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Elsahn
authors.affiliation: Division of Clinical and Experimental Sciences, Faculty of Medicine, University of Southampton, Southampton, UK.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Christodoulides
authors.affiliation: Division of Clinical and Experimental Sciences, Faculty of Medicine, University of Southampton, Southampton, UK.|University Hospital Southampton NHS Foundation Trust, Southampton, UK.
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Hossain
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D003320:Corneal Ulcer / Q000378:metabolism*; D015818:Eye Infections, Bacterial / Q000378:metabolism*; D006801:Humans; D007113:Immunity, Innate; D053472:Nod Signaling Adaptor Proteins / Q000378:metabolism; D051192:Receptors, Pattern Recognition / Q000378:metabolism*; D015398:Signal Transduction; D051193:Toll-Like Receptors / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D053472:Nod Signaling Adaptor Proteins; D051192:Receptors, Pattern Recognition; D051193:Toll-Like Receptors