Is there a role for the immune system in glaucomatous optic neuropathy?

Glaucoma and immunity are not traditionally perceived as being causally related. Recently, however, compelling observations have provided insight into a potential role for the immune system in the development of glaucomatous optic neuropathy. In this article, it is proposed that the role of the immune system in glaucoma is two-fold. In some patients, there is evidence that an autoimmune mechanism may be responsible for eliciting damage to the optic nerve, resulting in glaucomatous injury. Autoimmune damage to the optic nerve may occur directly by autoantibodies, or indirectly by way of a "mimicked" autoimmune response to a sensitizing antigen which, in turn, injuries retinal ganglion cells. We suggest that autoimmune-mediated glaucoma injury occurs most often, but not exclusively, in patients in whom the intraocular pressure has never been found to be elevated. A second role of the immune system in glaucoma is likely one of surveillance, in which signal pathways of the immune system regulate cell death in response to conditions that stress retinal neurons in glaucoma. These might include mechanical stress from high intraocular pressure, ischemia, excessive excitatory amino acids, or toxic products resulting from excessive nitric oxide synthase production in either neurons or glial fibers that surround the optic nerve as it exits the eye. In these cases, we propose that the immune system acts as an "arbiter" to help determine whether a neuronal cell will ultimately survive, or succumb to, those stressors that are perceived as injurious. It is conceivable that such surveillance and cell death regulation by the immune system is important in determining the fate of retinal neurons in both the more common "high-pressure" forms of glaucoma, such as primary open-angle glaucoma, and in cases in which the intraocular pressure appears within normal range.