Immunopathology and Molecular Pathology of Ocular Diseases in Humans

The purpose of this project is to diagnose and evaluate ocular and related tissues with various diseases such as conjunctival, corneal, uveal, vitreoretinal, scleral, optic nerve, and orbital disorders, ocular degenerative, inflammatory, metabolic or genetic diseases, and tumors. These will be studied using light microscopy, electron microscopy, confocal microscopy, immunohistochemistry, molecular pathology including microdissection and polymerase chain reaction and in situ hybridization, ELISA, as well as measuring the functions of cellular organelles, e.g., mitochondrial function. Lymphocytes in the peripheral blood, serum, as well as other involved biopsied tissues and ocular tissue will be compared and categorized by disease and normal. Cytokines, chemokines, growth factors, antibodies, and/or other released molecules in the blood, CSF, and ocular fluids will be also analyzed. We will compare the tissue morphology as well as immunological and biochemical indexes, e.g., cytokine/chemokine levels, growth factors, and antibodies between the diseases and normals. Elucidating the relationship between the infiltrating cells, ocular resident cells, and their products in various diseases will help us to make diagnoses, increase our understanding of human ocular disorders, and assist therapy.