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Retinal degenerative diseases are kinds of leading cause of blindness characterized by photoreceptor apoptosis and progressive neuronal degeneration. A large body of research has shown the evidence of inflammation reaction in such diseases. Retinal neuroinflammation may be a main factor resulting in apoptosis of photoreceptors and neurodegeneration of retina. In addition, the inflammatory response is not only detected in the retina, but also in aqueous humor, vitreous and even in blood, which forms a persistently very low degree, and chronic inflammatory environment. In this review, we focus on the development of microinflammatory response and its predictor for disease outcomes.

AIM: To investigate the regulation of autophagy on high glucose-induced epithelial-mesenchymal transition(EMT)in human lens epithelial cells.METHODS: In order to investigate the changes of EMT and autophagy induced by high glucose, HLE-B3 cells were divided into two groups. In NC group, cells were cultured in DMEM with 5.5mmol/L glucose, and in HG group, cells were treated with DMEM in addition with 30mmol/L glucose for 12h, 24h, and 48h. Western blot was used to detect the expression of EMT-marker proteins(E-cadherin and α-SMA)and autophagy-marker proteins(LC3, Beclin 1 and SQSTM1/p62). Wound healing assay was conducted to observe the migration ability. To investigate the regulation of autophagy on EMT, we employed rapamycin, an agonist of autophagy. HLE-B3 cells were divided into 4 groups. Two of them were mentioned as above, and the other two groups were treated with high glucose combined with DMSO(DMSO)and high glucose combined with 200nmol/L rapamycin(RAPA), respectively. Migration ability of cells was evaluated by Transwell assay. Expressions of proteins, such as EMT marker proteins, molecules in TGF-β signaling pathway(TGF-β2, Smad2/3, p-Smad2/3, Snail), and autophagy markers were detected by Western blot. The intracellular co-localization of SQSTM1/p62 and Smad2/3 was observed by immunofluorescence staining, and their interaction was confirmed by co-immunoprecipitation assay. RESULTS: The expression of E-cadherin, LC3 Ⅱ/Ⅰ, and Beclin 1 in HLE-B3 cells of HG group gradually decreased(F=67.52, 163, 206; all PF=53.37, 302.1; all PPPP>0.05)in RAPA group compared with HG group and DMSO group, cell migration was also suppressed(all PCONCLUSION: High glucose stimulates the process of EMT and suppresses the autophagy in HLE-B3 cells. Autophagy regulates EMT by interacting with Smad2/3 via SQSTM1/p62, altering the amount of Smad2/3 which works in the TGF-β signaling pathway.

AIM:To investigate the short-term effectiveness of orthokeratology(ortho-k)on controlling low-to-moderate myopic in Chinese children.METHODS: There were 271 subjects(271 eyes)enrolled in this study. In total, there were 141 cases aged 9.43±1.10 in the ortho-k group and the spherical equivalent refractive errors(SER)were -2.74±1.15D. The patients were examined at 1, 7, 30, and 90d after they started wearing the ortho-k lenses. There were 130 cases aged 9.37±1.00 enrolled in the control group, with the SER -2.88±1.39D, and the examinations occurred at 6, 12mo after they started wearing single-vision spectacles. Myopic progression was estimated from changes of axial length in both groups. The chi-square test, independent samples t-tests, paired t-tests, Spearman analysis were used to compare the data of the two groups. RESULTS: The axial elongation was 0.27±0.17mm in the ortho-k group after 1a which was significantly longer than that before wearing(PPPt-test). There was significant negative correlation between axial elongation and initial age in both groups during the one-year period(ortho-k group: rs=-0.309, Prs=-0.472,P0.36mm in 1a)were 38% in the ortho-k group and 76.5% in the control group, respectively; whereas those of the older group(aged 9.4～12.0)were lower, reaching 24.3% and 12.9% in the ortho-k and control groups. In patients with SER 5.00～6.00D, the axial elongation in ortho-k group was 57.1% lower than that in control group. CONCLUSION: Ortho-k lens is effective to control myopic progression in children with low-to-moderate myopia. In particular, it reduces the percentage of younger children with fast progression and has a better effect of controlling myopic progression with higher degrees of myopia.