Laboratory of Immunology, National Eye Institute, Bethesda, MD 20892, USA.
Department of Ophthalmology, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, Pittsburgh, PA 15213, USA.
Bioessays. 2018 Nov;40(11):e1800046. doi: 10.1002/bies.201800046. Epub 2018 Oct 5.
Until recently, the ocular surface is thought by many to be sterile and devoid of living microbes. It is now becoming clear that this may not be the case. Recent and sophisticated PCR analyses have shown that microbial DNA-based "signatures" are present within various ethnic, geographic, and contact lens wearing communities. Furthermore, using a mouse model of ocular surface disease, we have shown that the microbe, Corynebacterium mastitidis (C. mast), can stably colonize the ocular mucosa and that a causal relationship exists between ocular C. mast colonization and beneficial local immunity. While this constitutes proof-of-concept that a bona fide ocular microbiome that tunes immunity can exist at the ocular surface, there remain numerous unanswered questions to be addressed before microbiome-modulating therapies may be successfully developed. Here, the authors will briefly outline what is currently known about the local ocular microbiome as well as microbiomes associated with other sites, and how those sites may play a role in ocular surface immunity. Understanding how commensal microbes affect the ocular surface immune homeostasis has the potential revolutionize how we think about treating ocular surface disease.
直到最近，许多人还认为眼表面是无菌的，没有活体微生物。现在越来越清楚的是，事实可能并非如此。最近的复杂 PCR 分析表明，在不同种族、地理位置和戴隐形眼镜的人群中，存在基于微生物 DNA 的“特征”。此外，我们使用眼部表面疾病的小鼠模型表明，微生物棒状杆菌（Corynebacterium mastitidis，C. mast）可以稳定地定植在眼部黏膜上，并且眼部 C. mast 定植与有益的局部免疫之间存在因果关系。虽然这证明了在眼部表面确实存在可以调节免疫的真正眼部微生物组，但在成功开发微生物组调节疗法之前，仍有许多未解决的问题需要解决。在这里，作者将简要概述目前已知的局部眼部微生物组以及与其他部位相关的微生物组，以及这些部位如何在眼部表面免疫中发挥作用。了解共生微生物如何影响眼部表面免疫稳态，有可能彻底改变我们对治疗眼部表面疾病的思考方式。
