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Updated: Jun 24, 2026
Experimental Autoimmune Uveitis: An Intraocular Inflammatory Mouse Model
Published on: January 12, 2022
Constitutive neuronal expression of the immune regulator, programmed death 1 (PD-1), identified during experimental
Ling Chen1, Vicky Pai, Ralph Levinson
1Department of Ophthalmology, Jules Stein Institute, David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, Los Angeles, California 90095, USA.
Purpose:
Programmed death-1 (PD-1) ligation downregulates active lymphocyte responses. The authors tested whether PD-1 or its ligands are expressed in the posterior segment during active intraocular inflammation.
Methods:
Experimental autoimmune uveitis (EAU) was induced using interphotoreceptor retinoid-binding protein (IRBP 161-180). Ocular inflammation was evaluated by histology and expression of PD-1 ligand tested by immunohistochemistry. PD-1 expression was evaluated by immunohistochemistry, RT-PCR, and Western immunoblotting.
Results:
Using immunohistochemistry, PD-1, but not its ligands, was constitutively expressed in retinal neurons of naive mouse retina. Both PD-1 and its ligands were observed, as expected, in sites of active inflammation.
Conclusions:
PD-1 and its ligands were expressed in sites of active inflammation, in accordance with many other models of inflammatory disease. Surprisingly, PD-1, not previously described outside the immune system, was constitutively expressed in retinal neurons, raising the possibility that PD-1 signaling may be important for neuronal function in the absence of an inflammatory insult.
