Caspases in Retinal Ganglion Cell Death and Axon Regeneration

Overview

Journal Cell Death Discov

Date 2018 Apr 21

PMID 29675270

Citations 54

Authors

Chloe N Thomas

Martin Berry

Ann Logan

Richard J Blanch

Zubair Ahmed

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

Retinal ganglion cells (RGC) are terminally differentiated CNS neurons that possess limited endogenous regenerative capacity after injury and thus RGC death causes permanent visual loss. RGC die by caspase-dependent mechanisms, including apoptosis, during development, after ocular injury and in progressive degenerative diseases of the eye and optic nerve, such as glaucoma, anterior ischemic optic neuropathy, diabetic retinopathy and multiple sclerosis. Inhibition of caspases through genetic or pharmacological approaches can arrest the apoptotic cascade and protect a proportion of RGC. Novel findings have also highlighted a pyroptotic role of inflammatory caspases in RGC death. In this review, we discuss the molecular signalling mechanisms of apoptotic and inflammatory caspase responses in RGC specifically, their involvement in RGC degeneration and explore their potential as therapeutic targets.

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