The UK clinical eye research strategy: refreshing research priorities for clinical eye research in the UK.

Objectives: To validate and update the 2013 James Lind Alliance (JLA) Sight Loss and Vision Priority Setting Partnership (PSP)'s research priorities for Ophthalmology, as part of the UK Clinical Eye Research Strategy.

Methods: Twelve ophthalmology research themes were identified from the JLA report. They were allocated to five Clinical Study Groups of diverse stakeholders who reviewed the top 10 research priorities for each theme.

Vitamin A, systemic T-cells, and the eye: Focus on degenerative retinal disease.

The first discovered vitamin, vitamin A, exists in a range of forms, primarily retinoids and provitamin carotenoids. The bioactive forms of vitamin A, retinol and retinoic acid, have many critical functions in body systems including the eye and immune system. Vitamin A deficiency is associated with dysfunctional immunity, and presents clinically as a characteristic ocular syndrome, xerophthalmia.

Collaborative Research and Development of a Novel, Patient-Centered Digital Platform (MyEyeSite) for Rare Inherited Retinal Disease Data: Acceptability and Feasibility Study.

Background: Inherited retinal diseases (IRDs) are a leading cause of blindness in children and working age adults in the United Kingdom and other countries, with an appreciable socioeconomic impact. However, by definition, IRD data are individually rare, and as a result, this patient group has been underserved by research. Researchers need larger amounts of these rare data to make progress in this field, for example, through the development of gene therapies.

Development and application of the ocular immune-mediated inflammatory diseases ontology enhanced with synonyms from online patient support forum conversation.

Background: Unstructured text created by patients represents a rich, but relatively inaccessible resource for advancing patient-centred care. This study aimed to develop an ontology for ocular immune-mediated inflammatory diseases (OcIMIDo), as a tool to facilitate data extraction and analysis, illustrating its application to online patient support forum data.

Methods: We developed OcIMIDo using clinical guidelines, domain expertise, and cross-references to classes from other biomedical ontologies.

Differentiating Multifocal Choroiditis and Punctate Inner Choroidopathy: A Cluster Analysis Approach.

Purpose: To develop a robust approach to clinical phenotyping of multifocal choroiditis (MFC) and punctate inner choroidopathy (PIC).

Design: Cross-sectional and longitudinal observational study.

Methods: This multicenter study included sites in the United Kingdom and Israel.

Clinical Remission of Sight-Threatening Non-Infectious Uveitis Is Characterized by an Upregulation of Peripheral T-Regulatory Cell Polarized Towards T-bet and TIGIT.

Background: Non-infectious uveitis can cause chronic relapsing and remitting ocular inflammation, which may require high dose systemic immunosuppression to prevent severe sight loss. It has been classically described as an autoimmune disease, mediated by pro-inflammatory Th1 and Th17 T-cell subsets. Studies suggest that natural immunosuppressive CD4CD25FoxP3 T-regulatory cells (Tregs) are involved in resolution of inflammation and may be involved in the maintenance of clinical remission.