Autoimmunity in the eye and its regulation.

Recent studies have provided new information concerning the development of autoimmune-mediated intraocular inflammation (uveitis) and the mechanisms that suppress this sight-robbing process. Newly collected data have led to several interesting advances: the discovery of additional uveitogenic antigens and novel uveitogenic reactions; dissection of the early steps of the pathogenic process; identification of the subsets of lymphocytes that selectively accumulate in the inflamed eye; analysis of the development of tolerance against sequestered antigens in the eye; elucidation of the cellular and molecular events of the anterior chamber-associated immune deviation, the major immunoregulatory mechanism in the eye; the capacity of this mechanism to inhibit and even treat uveitis; and examination of the mechanisms whereby oral tolerance inhibits ocular inflammation.