Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound
Pivot Concepts:   Target Concepts:
Query: UMLS:C0022568 (keratitis)
 5,133 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

In the world literature we have found descriptions of five cases of Trichomonas vaginalis in the conjunctiva. Conjunctival swabs taken from 122 patients with conjunctivitis or keratitis revealed no flagellate micro-organisms on phase-contrast microscopy and culture. Neither did conjunctival swabs from 272 newborn infants, in spite of the fact that 3.7 per cent of their mothers had Trichomonas in the vagina. Trichomonas vaginalis is hardly likely to be responsible for conjunctivitis.
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PMID:May Trichomonas vaginalis provoke conjunctivitis? 108 74

Bilateral corneal anaesthesia and reduced sensation in the distribution of the ophthalmic division of the fifth cranial nerve associated with neuroparalytic keratitis and reduced vision is described in a 26-year-old woman with absence of the fallopian tubes, uterus, and upper vagina, a single pelvic kidney, and cervico-thoracic vertebral anomalies (the MURCS association). Other features of the disorder also present were short stature, facial asymmetry, micrognathia, and cleft palate. The neuroparalytic keratitis did not respond to tear substitutes and bilateral lateral tarsorrhaphies were eventually needed. This is the first report of congenital corneal anaesthesia in a case of MURCS.
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PMID:Congenital corneal anaesthesia and the MURCS association: a case report. 245 34

Herpes simplex virus type 1 (HSV-1) produces oral lesions, encephalitis, keratitis, and severe infections in the immunocompromised host. HSV-1 is almost as common as HSV-2 in causing first episodes of genital herpes, a disease that is associated with an increased risk of human immunodeficiency virus acquisition and transmission. No approved vaccines are currently available to protect against HSV-1 or HSV-2 infection. We developed a novel HSV vaccine strategy that uses a replication-competent strain of HSV-1, NS-gEnull, which has a defect in anterograde and retrograde directional spread and cell-to-cell spread. Following scratch inoculation on the mouse flank, NS-gEnull replicated at the site of inoculation without causing disease. Importantly, the vaccine strain was not isolated from dorsal root ganglia (DRG). We used the flank model to challenge vaccinated mice and demonstrated that NS-gEnull was highly protective against wild-type HSV-1. The challenge virus replicated to low titers at the site of inoculation; therefore, the vaccine strain did not provide sterilizing immunity. Nevertheless, challenge by HSV-1 or HSV-2 resulted in less-severe disease at the inoculation site, and vaccinated mice were totally protected against zosteriform disease and death. After HSV-1 challenge, latent virus was recovered by DRG explant cocultures from <10% of vaccinated mice compared with 100% of mock-vaccinated mice. The vaccine provided protection against disease and death after intravaginal challenge and markedly lowered the titers of the challenge virus in the vagina. Therefore, the HSV-1 gEnull strain is an excellent candidate for further vaccine development.
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PMID:A replication-competent, neuronal spread-defective, live attenuated herpes simplex virus type 1 vaccine. 1856 43

Plasmacytoid dendritic cells (pDCs) are a unique subpopulation of immune cells, distinct from classical dendritic cells. pDCs are generated in the bone marrow and following development, they typically home to secondary lymphoid tissues. While peripheral tissues are generally devoid of pDCs during steady state, few tissues, including the lung, kidney, vagina, and in particular ocular tissues harbor resident pDCs. pDCs were originally appreciated for their potential to produce large quantities of type I interferons in viral immunity. Subsequent studies have now unraveled their pivotal role in mediating immune responses, in particular in the induction of tolerance. In this review, we summarize our current knowledge on pDCs in ocular tissues in both mice and humans, in particular in the cornea, limbus, conjunctiva, choroid, retina, and lacrimal gland. Further, we will review our current understanding on the significance of pDCs in ameliorating inflammatory responses during herpes simplex virus keratitis, sterile inflammation, and corneal transplantation. Moreover, we describe their novel and pivotal neuroprotective role, their key function in preserving corneal angiogenic privilege, as well as their potential application as a cell-based therapy for ocular diseases.
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PMID:Plasmacytoid dendritic cells in the eye. 3271 78