Nakao Shintaro, Hafezi-Moghadam Ali, Ishibashi Tatsuro
Department of Ophthalmology, Graduate School of Medical Sciences, Kyushu University, 3-1-1 Maidashi, Higashi-Ku, Fukuoka 812-8582, Japan.
J Ophthalmol. 2012;2012:783163. doi: 10.1155/2012/783163. Epub 2012 Mar 5.
Lymphatic is a prerequisite for the maintenance of tissue fluid balance and immunity in the body. A body of evidence also shows that lymphangiogenesis plays important roles in the pathogenesis of diseases such as tumor metastasis and inflammation. The eye was thought to lack lymphatic vessels except for the conjunctiva; however, advances in the field, including the identification of lymphatic endothelial markers (e.g., LYVE-1 or podoplanin) and lymphangiogenic factors (e.g., VEGF-C), have revealed the exsitence and possible roles of lymphatics and lymphangiogenesis in the eye. Recent studies have shown that corneal limbus, ciliary body, lacrimal gland, orbital meninges, and extraocular muscles contain lymphatic vessels and that the choroid might have a lymphatic-like system. There is no known lymphatic outflow from the eye. However, several lymphatic channels including uveolymphatic pathway might serve the ocular fluid homeostasis. Furthermore, lymphangiogenesis plays important roles in pathological conditions in the eye including corneal transplant rejection and ocular tumor progression. Yet, the role of lymphangiogenesis in most eye diseases, especially inflammatory disease or edema, remains unknown. A better understanding of lymphatic and lymphangiogenesis in the eye will open new therapeutic opportunities to prevent vision loss in ocular diseases.
淋巴管是维持体内组织液平衡和免疫的先决条件。大量证据还表明，淋巴管生成在肿瘤转移和炎症等疾病的发病机制中起重要作用。除结膜外，眼睛曾被认为缺乏淋巴管；然而，该领域的进展，包括淋巴管内皮标志物（如LYVE-1或血小板内皮细胞黏附分子）和淋巴管生成因子（如VEGF-C）的鉴定，揭示了眼睛中淋巴管和淋巴管生成的存在及其可能的作用。最近的研究表明，角膜缘、睫状体、泪腺、眶脑膜和眼外肌含有淋巴管，脉络膜可能有类似淋巴管的系统。目前尚不知道眼睛有淋巴管流出。然而，包括葡萄膜淋巴途径在内的几条淋巴通道可能有助于眼内液的稳态。此外，淋巴管生成在眼部病理状况中起重要作用，包括角膜移植排斥和眼肿瘤进展。然而，淋巴管生成在大多数眼部疾病，尤其是炎症性疾病或水肿中的作用仍不清楚。更好地了解眼睛中的淋巴管和淋巴管生成将为预防眼部疾病导致的视力丧失带来新的治疗机会。
