The role of cGAS/STING signaling in ophthalmological diseases

Abstract

The eye is one of the most vulnerable parts of the human body. There are many kinds of ophthalmic diseases, which are caused by multiple factors. Generally, ophthalmic diseases have the characteristics of complicated etiology and difficult therapy. With the development of the times, ophthalmic diseases have become a major problem that affects people's lives. Inflammation, a major factor inducing ocular diseases, is one of the most popular research directions. The cGAS/STING pathway is a recently discovered inflammatory signaling pathway, which recognizes double-stranded DNA (dsDNA) as an activation signal to promote the expression of downstream cytokines that promote inflammatory response or autoimmune response. Since most of the current treatments for ophthalmic diseases mainly rely on surgery, it is of positive significance to explore the pathogenesis for the discovery of drug targets. This review summarize the research progress of the cGAS/STING pathway in major ophthalmic diseases by introducing the correlation between classical inflammatory pathway and ophthalmic diseases, in order to predict the research direction and methods targeting the cGAS/STING pathway in the pathogenesis of ophthalmic diseases, and also provide guidance for the mechanism as well as molecular targets of ophthalmic diseases.

Keywords

• CGAS/STING
• Ophthalmological diseases
• DsDNA
• Inflammation