A window to innate neuroimmunity: Toll-like receptor-mediated cell responses in the retina

Abstract

The retina and its supporting cellular architecture are a valuable biologic system to study neurocytotoxic responses that may reveal important pathways in both retinal and neural degenerative diseases. The innate immune pathway mediated by toll-like receptor 3 (TLR3) recognizes viral double-stranded RNA. TLR3 is found both on the cell surface and in endosomes of multiple retinal cell types. Here, we briefly review critical TLR3 signaling pathways and explore the role of receptor activation in neuroimmunity, age-related macular degeneration, and RNA-based drugs. © 2012 Springer Science+Business Media, LLC.