ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Immunol.
Sec. Cytokines and Soluble Mediators in Immunity
Volume 16 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fimmu.2025.1636901
This article is part of the Research TopicCommunity Series in Unraveling the Molecular Mechanisms of Cytokine Signaling in Regulating Inflammatory Diseases: Volume ⅡView all articles
Combination of αCD4 Antibody and Retinal Antigen Injection Induces Long-Term Disease Control in Autoimmune Uveitis
Provisionally accepted
- 1State Key Laboratory of Ophthalmology, Zhongshan Ophthalmic Center, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, China
- 2School of Chinese Medicine, Hong Kong Baptist University, Hong Kong, Hong Kong, SAR China
- 3Hong Kong Baptist University Institute for Research and Continuing Education, Shenzhen, China
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Autoimmune uveitis is a sight-threatening inflammatory eye disease driven by immune dysregulation. We previously introduced a therapeutic strategy involving the in vivo induction of retinal-antigen-specific regulatory T cells (Tregs) via αCD4 antibody injection followed by administration of the retinal self-peptide IRBP1-20, which effectively suppresses inflammation during the onset of experimental autoimmune uveitis (EAU). Here, we evaluated the long-term therapeutic efficacy of this approach in a chronic EAU model. EAU was induced in C57BL/6 mice, and treatment was administered at each onset or relapse episode over a 28-week period.Disease progression was monitored by clinical scoring and funduscopy, with further assessment using histopathology and optical coherence tomography (OCT). Flow cytometry was employed to analyze immune cell infiltration, and RNA sequencing of ocular tissue was performed to assess gene expression changes. Mice receiving αCD4 antibody and IRBP1-20 showed sustained disease control up to 28 weeks, with reduced ocular inflammation, less retinal damage on OCT, and decreased immune cell infiltration compared to untreated controls. Transcriptomic analysis revealed significant downregulation of inflammation-related genes following treatment. These findings support the long-term immunomodulatory effect of combining αCD4 antibody and retinal antigen injection, offering a potential strategy for managing chronic progressive autoimmune uveitis.
Keywords: Autoimmune uveitis, Immunotherapy, Treg, Long-Term Therapy, chronic inflammation, Anti-CD4 antibody
Received: 28 May 2025; Accepted: 01 Aug 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Qiao, Zhang, Zhong, Liu, Chen, Chong and Chen. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence:
Wai Po Chong, School of Chinese Medicine, Hong Kong Baptist University, Hong Kong, Hong Kong, SAR China
Jun Chen, State Key Laboratory of Ophthalmology, Zhongshan Ophthalmic Center, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, China
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