A link between age-related macular degeneration and the spleen?
Thanks to the research work of the director Florian Sennlaub and his team, studies have shown that immune cells from the spleen, as distant as they may be from the visual system, play a role in age-related macular degeneration. This work was published in the Journal of Neuroinflammation.
The inflammatory response plays a major role in age-related macular degeneration (AMD). Research conducted at the Vision Institute highlights a specific group of immune cells, monocytes, which significantly contribute to this inflammation. Florian Sennlaub and his team have indeed discovered that these pathogenic cells come from a reservoir located in the spleen!
Interestingly, they have demonstrated that these "splenic" monocytes are mobilized in the spleen in response to the release of a key molecule, "angiotensin II," and migrate into the eye. In preclinical models, by blocking angiotensin II or removing the spleen, researchers have succeeded in reducing retinal inflammation, thus offering the possibility to slow down the vision loss associated with AMD.
Finally, the research also revealed higher levels of angiotensin II in the plasma of patients with AMD, suggesting that inhibition of this molecule could represent a promising new therapeutic pathway to reduce visual loss in individuals with AMD.
Published study: Roubeix, C., Nous, C., Augustin, S. et al. Splenic monocytes drive pathogenic subretinal inflammation in age-related macular degeneration. J Neuroinflammation 21, 22 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1186/s12974-024-03011-z