Abstract
Presentation Description :
The immune system and the immune response, respectively, show certain differences that are clinically relevant. This applies to different levels of the immune system as such, the ocular immune system and also to ocular surface immunity. These differences are frequently less well known or underestimated but can still be clinically relevant. More well known differences exist in the differentiation of certain tissues and organs in the body and their regulation by soluble factors such as sex hormones. This can influence the regulation of immune responses in a sex dependent manner and therey lead to the differential expression of pathology in various organs. This also applies to the ocular surface and influences e.g. the regulation of the ocular glands, the amount of fluid and its composition at the ocular surface as well as the differentiation of the ocular surface tissues itself. All together sex related differences are an important basis to understand differences in the incidence of dry eye disease and of other inflammatory pathologies at the ocular surface.
This is an abstract that was submitted for the 2016 ARVO Annual Meeting, held in Seattle, Wash., May 1-5, 2016.