The relevance of chemokine signalling in modulating inherited and age-related retinal degenerations.

Systemic monocytes, tissue resident macrophages, dendritic cells and microglia have specific roles in immune surveillance and maintenance of tissue homeostasis and are key regulator and effector cells of the local immune response to acute and chronic tissue injury.Two major signalling pathways that differentially define trafficking behaviour and activation of systemic and local myeloid cell populations in response to exogenous and endogenous inflammatory stimuli are the Ccl2-Ccr2 and the Cx3cl1-Cx3cr1 chemokine pathways.Alterations in these pathways have been implicated in controlling myeloid cell activation during normal ageing and in age-related retinal degenerations, including age-related macular degeneration (AMD).We review the evidence for how altered chemokine signalling in acute and chronic inflammatory conditions regulate local and systemic myeloid cell responses in the retina and how this may contribute to or attenuate pathology in inherited and age-related retinal diseases. We discuss the role of environmental factors (e.g. light exposure) and the influence of genetic factors on the manifestation of pathology in experimental models and in human patients and how we envisage harnessing this knowledge for the development of targeted, more broadly applicable anti-inflammatory treatment strategies for a wide range of retinal degenerations.