Redefining the immune landscape of the human ocular surface

在眼表，角膜和角膜缘需要建立有效的免疫反应来维持角膜透明度，以获得清晰的视力。目前的范式是，人类角膜与naïve小鼠在无病原体设施中拥有相同的先天免疫细胞亚群（树突状细胞和巨噬细胞）。我们的试点数据挑战了这一前提，早期证据表明先天细胞和适应性细胞（T细胞）在正常人类角膜中共存。整合最先进的技术，我们将通过全面定义免疫细胞生物学和动力学来推进对人类眼表免疫调节的理解。我们将定义年龄对这些组织中免疫细胞的影响，以及泪液蛋白质组与细胞行为之间的关系。

At the ocular surface, the cornea and limbus need to mount effective immune responses to maintain corneal transparency for clear vision. The current paradigm is that the human cornea houses the same innate immune cell subsets (dendritic cells and macrophages) as naïve mice in pathogen-free facilities. Our pilot data challenge this premise, with early evidence that innate and adaptive cells (T cells) coexist in normal human corneas. Integrating state-of-the-art techniques, we will advance understanding of immune regulation at the human ocular surface by comprehensively defining immune cell biology and dynamics. We will define the effect of age on immune cells in these tissues, and relationships between the tear proteome and cell behaviours.