ER stress

Abstract

Glaucoma, an optic neuropathy resulting from retinal ganglion cell (RGC) death, is one of the leading causes of blindness worldwide. The causes of RGC death in glaucoma have been reported to arise from intraocular pressure, dysregulation of ocular circulation, autoimmune diseases, and genetic predisposition and so on. However, its pathological mechanisms remain unclear. Recently, it is focused on the involvement of endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress in glaucoma. The authors demonstrated, for the first time, that various types of cellular stress induce ER stress before proceeding to RGC death. ER stress is caused by the accumulation of misfolded or unfolded proteins within the ER lumen. The excess ER stress leads to ER-stress-induced cell death, highlighting the possible mechanisms of neurodegenerative diseases, such as Alzheimer disease, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, and Parkinson disease. This chapter introduces the involvement of ER stress in retinal cell death causing glaucoma and its therapeutic strategy.