Accumulating evidence indicates that dysregulated immune responses and inflammation play a crucial role in the development and progression of retinal pathologies including diabetic retinopathy. In particular, chronic inflammation, which may be caused by common viral infections, is emerging as a crucial contributor to pathologies that affect the nervous system. Understanding the impact of viral infection on neurological tissues, such as the retina, will allow us to determine whether infection contributes to ongoing inflammation and neurodegeneration thus providing insight into much needed therapeutic strategies.
Inflammation and retinal neurodegeneration have also emerged as important contributors to diabetic retinopathy, in addition to vascular changes. Viral infections can trigger molecules that affect vascularisation. Models that investigate the infection-inflammation-vascular axis will provide important mechanistic information that will lead to better treatments for these conditions.
The immunology team is working with clinical collaborators at the Lions Eye Institute as well as Monash Health and the University of Birmingham to examine the impact of inflammation induced by chronic viral infection on microvascular and macrovascular complications in diabetes, both in preclinical mouse models and in patients.
