Dry Eye and Biomarkers: Present and Future

Abstract

Dry eye disease (DED) is a complex disorder of the ocular surface. Due to the lack of consistency between clinical signs and symptoms and poor clinical indicators of mechanisms and severity, there is a growing need for reliable biomarkers of the disease. The low volume of tears in DED is a source of technical challenges, although new technologies can now measure inflammatory cytokines or matrix metalloproteinases as markers of the disease. Various techniques have also been developed in impression cytology specimens for identifying inflammatory markers. However, although many markers have been identified as playing a role in disease pathogenesis, only a few have been shown to have value in human diseases and have been validated in clinical trials or clinical settings.