Systemic diseases and the cornea

Ruchi Shah; Cynthia Amador; Kati Tormanen; Sean Ghiam; Mehrnoosh Saghizadeh; Vaithi Arumugaswami; Ashok Kumar; Andrei A Kramerov; Alexander V Ljubimov

doi:10.1016/j.exer.2021.108455

Systemic diseases and the cornea

Exp Eye Res. 2021 Mar:204:108455. doi: 10.1016/j.exer.2021.108455. Epub 2021 Jan 21.

Authors

Ruchi Shah¹, Cynthia Amador², Kati Tormanen³, Sean Ghiam⁴, Mehrnoosh Saghizadeh⁵, Vaithi Arumugaswami⁶, Ashok Kumar⁷, Andrei A Kramerov², Alexander V Ljubimov⁸

Affiliations

¹ Eye Program, Board of Governors Regenerative Medicine Institute, Department of Biomedical Sciences, Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, Los Angeles, CA, USA. Electronic address: Ruchi.Shah@cshs.org.
² Eye Program, Board of Governors Regenerative Medicine Institute, Department of Biomedical Sciences, Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, Los Angeles, CA, USA.
³ Center for Neurobiology and Vaccine Development, Department of Surgery, Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, Los Angeles, CA, USA.
⁴ Sackler School of Medicine, New York State/American Program of Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv, Israel.
⁵ Eye Program, Board of Governors Regenerative Medicine Institute, Department of Biomedical Sciences, Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, Los Angeles, CA, USA; Departments of Molecular and Medical Pharmacology, Medicine, and Eli and Edythe Broad Center of Regenerative Medicine and Stem Cell Research, David Geffen School of Medicine, University of California Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA, USA.
⁶ Departments of Molecular and Medical Pharmacology, Medicine, and Eli and Edythe Broad Center of Regenerative Medicine and Stem Cell Research, David Geffen School of Medicine, University of California Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA, USA.
⁷ Department of Ophthalmology, Visual and Anatomical Sciences, Wayne State University, Detroit, MI, USA.
⁸ Eye Program, Board of Governors Regenerative Medicine Institute, Department of Biomedical Sciences, Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, Los Angeles, CA, USA; Departments of Molecular and Medical Pharmacology, Medicine, and Eli and Edythe Broad Center of Regenerative Medicine and Stem Cell Research, David Geffen School of Medicine, University of California Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA, USA. Electronic address: ljubimov@cshs.org.

Abstract

There is a number of systemic diseases affecting the cornea. These include endocrine disorders (diabetes, Graves' disease, Addison's disease, hyperparathyroidism), infections with viruses (SARS-CoV-2, herpes simplex, varicella zoster, HTLV-1, Epstein-Barr virus) and bacteria (tuberculosis, syphilis and Pseudomonas aeruginosa), autoimmune and inflammatory diseases (rheumatoid arthritis, Sjögren's syndrome, lupus erythematosus, gout, atopic and vernal keratoconjunctivitis, multiple sclerosis, granulomatosis with polyangiitis, sarcoidosis, Cogan's syndrome, immunobullous diseases), corneal deposit disorders (Wilson's disease, cystinosis, Fabry disease, Meretoja's syndrome, mucopolysaccharidosis, hyperlipoproteinemia), and genetic disorders (aniridia, Ehlers-Danlos syndromes, Marfan syndrome). Corneal manifestations often provide an insight to underlying systemic diseases and can act as the first indicator of an undiagnosed systemic condition. Routine eye exams can bring attention to potentially life-threatening illnesses. In this review, we provide a fairly detailed overview of the pathologic changes in the cornea described in various systemic diseases and also discuss underlying molecular mechanisms, as well as current and emerging treatments.

Keywords: Addison's disease; Aniridia; Autoimmune disease; Corneal deposit disorder; Diabetic cornea; Ehlers-Danlos syndrome; Genetic corneal disease; Graves' disease; Herpes; Immunobullous disease; Inflammation; Keratoconjunctivitis; Marfan syndrome; Pseudomonas aeruginosa; SARS-CoV-2; Sjögren's syndrome; Syphilis; Tuberculosis; Zoster.

Publication types

Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural
Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
Review

MeSH terms

Autoimmune Diseases / diagnosis
Autoimmune Diseases / epidemiology*
COVID-19 / epidemiology*
Comorbidity
Cornea / pathology*
Humans
SARS-CoV-2

Abstract

Publication types

MeSH terms

Grants and funding