Dry eye disease caused by viral infection: Past, present and future

ABSTRACT

Following viral infection, the innate immune system senses viral products, such as viral nucleic acids, to activate innate defence pathways, leading to inflammation and apoptosis, control of cell proliferation, and consequently, threat to the whole body. The ocular surface is exposed to the external environment and extremely vulnerable to viral infection. Several studies have revealed that viral infection can induce inflammation of the ocular surface and reduce tear secretion of the lacrimal gland (LG), consequently triggering ocular morphological and functional changes and resulting in dry eye disease (DED). Understanding the mechanisms of DED caused by viral infection and its potential therapeutic strategies are crucial for clinical interventional advances in DED. This review summarizes the roles of viral infection in the pathogenesis of DED, applicable diagnostic and therapeutic strategies, and potential regions of future studies.

KEYWORDS:

• Dry eye disease (DED)
• lacrimal gland (LG)
• viral infection
• inflammation
• corneal epithelial cells (CECs)

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

CRediT author contribution statement

Min Wu, Cuilian Sun wrote the original draft, review and editing. Manhui Zhu, Xiaojuan Liu revised the manuscript critically for important intellectual content. Qin Shi, Yalu Luo, Ziyu Wang, Jianxiang Wang, Yun Qin, Weihang Cui, Chufeng Yan, Huangyi Dai, Zhiyang Wang, Jia Zeng, Yamei Zhou participated in data curation, writing the original draft, review and editing.

Additional information

Funding

This study was supported by a major project of Nantong City (No. MS22018009), basic research project of Nantong City (No. JC22022013), College Student Innovation Program of Nantong University (Nos. 2022140 and 2023375), and Gusu Health Talent Program Project in Suzhou [No. (2022)192].