Research progress on immune mechanism of dry eye / 国际眼科杂志(Guoji Yanke Zazhi)

ABSTRACT

The dry eye is a common ocular surface disease caused by multiple factors with multiple pathogenesis. With the increasing morbidity of dry eye in our country year by year, dry eye has gradually attracted people's attention. The pathogenesis of dry eye is more complicated whose critical influencing factors include inflammation, corneal and conjunctival epithelial cell changes, tear film composition changes, corneal nerve changes, and meibomian gland dysfunction and so on. The tear film hypertonicity leads to the hypertonicity of the ocular surface epithelial cells, stimulating the cascade of inflammation, which is the most critical part among the pathogenesis of dry eye. A variety of inflammatory mediators and immune cells are involved in this process, and more and more people have reached a consensus that the dry eye is an antigen-specific autoimmune inflammatory disease and they are closely correlated with each. In clinical treatment, various anti-inflammatory drugs and drugs promoting tear secretion mark the rapid development of drug therapy for dry eye to some extent, but dry eye treatment is not only to improve symptoms, but to carry out treatment according to specific etiology. Recently, researches on the immune mechanism of dry eye have been increasing. This article reviewed on the immune progress of dry eye to realize the clinical significance and systematically understand the role of which in the occurrence and development of dry eye.