Sharmila Masli

Sharmila Masli
Boston University School of Medicine, Boston, U.S. · Ophthalmology

PhD

About

72
Publications
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2,370
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Publications

Publications (72)
Article
Full-text available
Differentiating patients with Sjögren’s syndrome (SS) associated dry eye from non‐SS dry eye is critical for monitoring and appropriate management of possible sight‐ or life‐threatening extraglandular complications associated with SS. We tested whether reduced tear levels of immunoregulatory thrombospondin (TSP)‐1, which also inhibits matrix metall...
Article
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To address the conflicting role of thrombospondin (TSP)-1 reported in acute and chronic pathologies, this study investigated the role of TSP-1 in regulating leukocyte recruitment and regulation of VCAM-1 expression using mouse models of uveitis. The spontaneously increased VCAM-1 expression and leukocyte adhesion in retinas of TSP-1-deficient mice...
Article
Full-text available
Conjunctival epithelium forms a barrier between the ocular surface microbial flora and the ocular mucosa. In addition to secreting gel-forming mucins, goblet cells, located in the conjunctival epithelium, help maintain local immune homeostasis by secreting active TGFβ2 and promoting tolerogenic phenotype of dendritic cells in the vicinity. Although...
Article
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Purpose To assess the potential association of a thrombospondin 1 gene (THBS1) single-nucleotide polymorphism (rs1478604) with thrombospondin 1 (TSP-1) mRNA expression, as well as the risk of pterygium, in a pilot study. Methods DNA and RNA were isolated from peripheral blood samples collected from normal volunteer subjects (n = 39). In addition,...
Article
Clear vision is dependent on features that protect the anatomical integrity of the eye (cornea and sclera) and those that contribute to internal ocular homeostasis by conferring hemangiogenic (avascular tissues and antiangiogenic factors), lymphangiogenic (lack of draining lymphatics), and immunologic (tight junctions that form blood–ocular barrier...
Article
Full-text available
Sjögren’s syndrome (SS) is a systemic rheumatic disease that predominantly affects salivary and lacrimal glands resulting in oral and ocular dryness, respectively, referred to as sicca symptoms. The clinical presentation of ocular dryness includes keratoconjunctivitis sicca (KCS), resulting from the inflammatory damage to the ocular surface tissues...
Article
Purpose: Systemic implications necessitate the identification of dry eye patients with Sjögren syndrome (SS). This study aims to explore the utility of tear MUC5AC and inflammatory cytokine levels in the differential diagnosis of SS-related dry eye. Methods: A prospective, observational, case-control study was conducted on 62 patients (those wit...
Article
Thrombospondin 1 (TSP-1) is an extracellular matrix protein that interacts with a wide array of ligands including cell receptors, growth factors, cytokines and proteases to regulate various physiological and pathological processes. Constitutively expressed by certain ocular surface tissues (e.g. corneal and conjunctival epithelium), TSP-1 expressio...
Article
Full-text available
Chronic inflammation of the ocular surface poses a risk of vision impairment. The understanding of the molecular mechanisms that are involved in the inflammatory response is critical to identify novel molecular targets. Recently, thrombospondin-1 (TSP-1) has emerged as a key player in ocular surface homeostasis that efficiently activates the TGF-β2...
Article
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Thrombospondin-1-deficient (TSP-1−/−) mice are used as an animal model of Sjögren’s Syndrome because they exhibit many of the symptoms associated with the autoimmune type of dry eye found in primary Sjögren’s Syndrome. This type of dry eye is linked to the inflammation of the lacrimal gland, conjunctiva, and cornea, and is thought to involve dysfun...
Article
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The risk of developing lymphoma in patients with Sjögren’s syndrome (SS) is 44 times higher than in the normal population with the most common lymphomas derived from marginal zone B (MZB) cells. Current understanding of the role of MZB cells in SS is primarily based on salivary gland pathology, while their contextual association with lacrimal gland...
Article
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The purpose of this study is to determine neural, vascular, protein secretion, and cellular signaling changes with disease progression in lacrimal glands of the thrombospondin-1−/− (TSP-1−/−) mouse model of dry eye compared to C57BL/6 wild-type (WT) mice. Neural innervation was reduced in TSP-1−/− lacrimal glands compared to WT controls, whereas th...
Article
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Therapeutic breakthroughs in a number of retinal degenerative diseases have come about through the development of biotherapeutics administered directly into the eye. As a consequence of their use, we have gained more insight into the immune privileged status of the eye and the various considerations that development, manufacturing, and use of these...
Article
Sjögren's syndrome is a second most common rheumatic disease in which autoimmune response targets exocrine glands (salivary and lacrimal glands) resulting in clinical symptoms of dry mouth and dry eye. Inflammation of the lacrimal gland induces tear abnormalities that contribute to the inflammation of the ocular surface, which includes ocular mucos...
Article
The purpose of this study was to investigate the changes that occur in the lacrimal glands (LGs) in female thrombospondin 1 knockout (TSP1−/−) mice, a mouse model of the autoimmune disease Sjogren's syndrome. The LGs of 4, 12, and 24 week-old female TSP1−/− and C57BL/6J (wild type, WT) mice were used. qPCR was performed to measure cytokine expressi...
Article
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Allergic eye disease, as in most forms of atopy, ranges in severity among individuals from immediate hypersensitivity to a severe and debilitating chronic disease. Dendritic cells play a key role in stimulating pathogenic T cells in allergen re-exposure, or secondary responses. However, molecular cues by dendritic cells underpinning allergic T cell...
Article
Sjögren's syndrome is an autoimmune disease associated with inflammation of exocrine glands with clinical manifestations of dry eye and dry mouth. Dry eye in this disease involves inflammation of the ocular surface tissues - cornea and conjunctiva. While systemic blockade of adhesion molecules has been used to treat autoimmune diseases, the purpose...
Article
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Purpose: The potential role of commensals as triggering factors that promote inflammation in dry eye disease has not been explored. The objective of this study was to evaluate whether ocular microbiota changes with the onset of dry eye disease in thrombospondin-1-deficient (TSP-1(-/-)) mice, a strain that develops Sjögren's syndrome-like disease....
Article
An important role of TGFβ in the development of regulatory T cells is well established. While integrin-mediated activation of latent TGFβ1 is considered essential for the induction of Tregs by antigen-presenting cells (APCs), such an activation mechanism is not applicable to the TGFβ2 isoform, which lacks an integrin-binding RGD sequence in its lat...
Article
Increased expression of transforming growth factor-β2 (TGF-β2) is reported in the conjunctiva of dry eye patients with no increase of anti-inflammatory activity of TGF-β2. Our aim was to compare the expression of molecules involved in TGF-β2 activation, thrombospondin-1 (TSP-1) and CD36, during murine and human conjunctival inflammation. Human conj...
Article
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Background: In the murine cornea, which is an established model for analyzing pathologic lymphatic vessel growth, phenotypic heterogeneity of the endogenous lymphatic vessels in the limbus of the cornea was previously described. In this study, the cornea of BALB/c, C57BL/6, and FVB mice with different limbal lymphangiogenic phenotypes was analyzed...
Article
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Goblet cells are secretory epithelial cells of mucosal tissues that confer protection from environmental agents or pathogens via expression and secretion of soluble mucins. Loss of these cells is associated with several chronic inflammatory disorders of the mucosa. Although demonstrated to transfer antigens from the luminal surface to stromal cells...
Chapter
Ocular surface disease describes a spectrum of disorders that affect the normal structure and function of the conjunctiva, cornea, and supportive glandular network. A significant proportion of such diseases have an immune etiology, such as in allergic and autoimmune conditions. In ocular allergy, inflammation affects mainly the conjunctiva, but adv...
Article
Purpose of review: Although conjunctival goblet cells are a major cell type in ocular mucosa, their responses during ocular allergy are largely unexplored. This review summarizes the recent findings that provide key insights into the mechanisms by which their function and survival are altered during chronic inflammatory responses, including ocular...
Article
Purpose To determine the association of single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) of the thrombospondin 1 (THBS1) gene with development of chronic ocular surface inflammation (keratoconjunctivitis) after refractive surgery. Design Retrospective cohort study. Participants Active duty U.S. Army soldiers (n = 143) who opted for refractive surgery. Met...
Article
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The molecular mechanisms causing pigment dispersion syndrome (PDS) and the pathway(s) by which it progresses to pigmentary glaucoma are not known. Mutations in two melanosomal protein genes (Tyrp1b and GpnmbR150X) are responsible for pigment dispersing iris disease, which progresses to intraocular pressure (IOP) elevation and subsequent glaucoma in...
Article
Abstract Thrombospondins are a family of large multi-domain glycoproteins described as matricelluar proteins based on their ability to interact with a broad range of receptors, matrix molecules, growth factors or proteases, and to modulate array of cellular functions including intracellular signaling, proliferation and migration. Two members of the...
Article
Full-text available
Lacrimal gland inflammation during autoimmune Sjögren's syndrome (SS) leads to ocular surface inflammation - Keratoconjunctivitis sicca (KCS). This condition afflicts both the cornea and conjunctiva that form the ocular surface. Thrombospondin-1 (TSP-1) deficiency in mice results in lacrimal gland and corneal inflammation that resembles the human d...
Article
Full-text available
Ocular surface inflammation associated with Sjögren's syndrome is characterized by a loss of secretory function and alteration in numbers of mucin secreting goblet cells. Such changes are a prominent feature of ocular surface inflammatory diseases and are attributed to inflammation; however, the exact effect of the inflammatory cytokines on conjunc...
Article
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Lymphangiogenesis plays an important role in tumor metastasis and transplant outcome. Here, we show that thrombospondin-1 (TSP-1), a multifunctional extracellular matrix protein and naturally occurring inhibitor of angiogenesis inhibits lymphangiogenesis in mice. Compared with wild-type mice, 6-mo-old TSP-1-deficient mice develop increased spontane...
Article
To analyze whether topical application of corticosteroids inhibits inflammatory corneal lymphangiogenesis and to study the potential underlying antilymphangiogenic mechanisms. Inflammatory corneal neovascularization was induced by suture placement, and the corneas were then treated with topical fluorometholone, prednisolone acetate, or dexamethason...
Article
The eye is one of the immune privilege sites of the body that is consequently protected from the detrimental and potentially blinding influences of immunologic inflammation. Within the eye, the anterior chamber has been recognized for its immune privilege property for many years now; however, a similar property detectable in the subretinal space ha...
Article
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Thrombospondin (TSP)-1 is a matricellular glycoprotein with immunoregulatory properties, which include inhibition of APC function. We show in transplantation that TSP-1 inhibits T cell allosensitization and consequently suppresses immune rejection. This was revealed by comparing wild-type (WT) versus TSP-1 null allografts in corneal transplantation...
Article
The original evidence for the existence of immunologically privileged sites in the body was based on the prolonged survival of genetically disparate transplanted tissue in the anterior chamber of the eye. The failure of the immune system to elicit an immune response in this and other such sites constitutes the hallmark of the immune privilege statu...
Article
It is speculated that retinal pigment epithelial (RPE) cells convert naïve T cells into regulatory T cells (Tregs) via soluble factors such as transforming growth factor beta (TGF-β). Yet presence or absence of similar membrane-bound mechanisms on RPE cells has yet to be addressed. Here the authors investigated the expression of surface TGF-β by RP...
Article
Thrombospondin-1 (TSP-1) is a major activator of latent transforming growth factor-beta in vitro as well as in vivo. Mice deficient in TSP-1, despite appearing normal at birth, develop a chronic form of ocular surface disease that is marked by increased apoptosis and deterioration in the lacrimal gland, associated dysfunction, and development of in...
Article
Mounting evidence points to a role for the sympathetic nervous system in suppressing inflammation. This role might be of specific relevance for immune privilege in the eye, where, sporadically, patients with denervated sympathetic fibers develop chronic inflammation. The present study used mice to investigate whether the robust innervation of intra...
Article
Thrombospondin (TSP)-1 has been demonstrated to play a vital role in immune privilege. The functional phenotype of ocular antigen-presenting cells that contributes to the immune privilege status of the eye is dependent on their expression of TSP-1. Microglia, the local antigen-presenting cells in the retina, undergo rapid activation in response to...
Article
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P-selectin glycoprotein ligand-1 (PSGL-1) is constitutively expressed on leukocytes and was thought to be down-regulated with cell activation. However, this work shows the surprising finding of functional PSGL-1 up-regulation during acute inflammation. PSGL-1 function was studied in our autoperfusion assay, in which blood from a mouse carotid flows...
Article
IkappaB alpha is an inhibitor of the transcriptional factor NF-kappaB, and it is an essential component of the signaling pathways that lead to expression of inflammatory molecules. These include cytokines and costimulatory molecules associated with antigen presentation in an inflammatory immune response. In this study, we report that antigen-presen...
Article
Transforming growth factor beta (TGF-beta) plays a role both in the induction of Treg and in the differentiation of the IL-17-secreting T cells (Th17) which drive inflammation in experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis (EAE). We investigated the role that thrombospondin-1 (TSP-1) dependent activation of TGF-beta played in the generation of an enc...
Article
Purpose: Anterior chamber associated immune deviation (ACAID) is an antigen-specific form of peripheral immune tolerance that is induced to exogenous antigens placed in the ocular anterior chamber, which leads to a suppression in delayed-type hypersensitivity (DTH). Considerable work has been done on ACAID induction to major histocompatibility (MHC...
Article
Exposure of macrophages to transforming growth factor (TGF)-beta is known to alter their functional phenotype such that antigen presentation by these cells leads to tolerance rather than an inflammatory immune response. Typically, eye-derived antigen-presenting cells (APCs) exposed to TGF-beta in the local environment are known to induce a form of...
Article
Full-text available
Early detection of ocular inflammation may prevent the occurrence of structural damage or vision loss. Here, we introduce a novel noninvasive technique for molecular imaging and quantitative evaluation of endothelial injury in the choriocapillaris of live animals, which detects disease earlier than currently possible. Using an established model of...
Data
Loss of adaptive immune reactions has no influence on the age of onset, rate of progression, or final severity of the Tyrp1 or Gpnmb mediated iris disease. The Rag1tm1Mom and Prkdcscid mutations both act recessively and result in essentially identical phenotypes characterized by loss of adaptive immune responses due loss of mature B and T lymphocyt...
Data
GpnmbR150X mutation does not directly elevate IOP. Mean IOP ± SEM is presented. For ease of comparison, some of the data are duplicated from Figure 3. It is clear that the GpnmbR150X mutation contributes to the iris disease of DBA/2J mice and is a critical component of the glaucoma. Manipulations that prevent severe iris disease in DBA/2J mice prev...
Article
Full-text available
Anterior chamber associated immune deviation (ACAID) is an antigen-specific form of peripheral immune tolerance that is induced to exogenous antigens placed in the ocular anterior chamber, which leads to a suppression in delayed-type hypersensitivity (DTH). Considerable work has been done on ACAID induction to major histocompatibility (MHC) alloant...
Article
Full-text available
The Gpnmb gene encodes a transmembrane protein whose function(s) remain largely unknown. Here, we assess if a mutant allele of Gpnmb confers susceptibility to glaucoma by altering immune functions. DBA/2J mice have a mutant Gpnmb gene and they develop a form of glaucoma preceded by a pigment dispersing iris disease and abnormalities of the immunosu...
Chapter
Although many local factors contribute to a fine balance maintained in the eye between prevention of inflammation and promotion of immune protection, anterior chamber associated immune deviation (ACAID) represents an active phenomenon that induces a systemic effect that is involved in maintaining the immune-privileged status of the eye. Antigens in...
Article
Full-text available
Purpose: The role of thrombospondin (TSP)-1 in TGF-beta activation and T-cell suppression was studied in the retinal pigment epithelial (RPE) cells, a monolayer of pigmented cells that line the subretinal space, an immune-privileged site in the eye. Methods: Posterior eyecups were prepared by excising the anterior segment, lens, and retina from enu...
Article
To study the contribution of murine retinal pigment epithelial (RPE) cells to the innate immune-privilege status of the subretinal space as determined by the ability of pigment epithelial-derived factor (PEDF) and somatostatin (SOM), produced by RPE, to regulate macrophage-mediated inflammation. Serum-free medium was added to RPE eyecups (a healthy...
Article
The peripheral tolerance that arises after injection of antigen into the anterior chamber (anterior chamber-associated immune deviation; ACAID) is associated in part with CD8+ T cells that suppress the expression of Th1 and Th2 immunity. The purpose of these studies was to determine the genes and molecules that are critical for CD8+ T regulatory ce...
Article
To determine whether the MHC class Ib gene, Qa-1, is expressed in the tissues that surround the immune-privileged anterior chamber (AC) of the murine eye. Transcription of Qa-1 mRNA in BALB/c ocular tissues was analyzed by reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction. Expression of Qa-1 protein was assessed on ocular frozen tissue sections by im...
Article
Full-text available
The role of thrombospondin (TSP)-1 in TGF-beta activation and T-cell suppression was studied in the retinal pigment epithelial (RPE) cells, a monolayer of pigmented cells that line the subretinal space, an immune-privileged site in the eye. Posterior eyecups were prepared by excising the anterior segment, lens, and retina from enucleated eyes of C5...
Article
Full-text available
Thrombospondin (TSP)-1 and -2 are important antiangiogenic factors thought to be involved in maintaining corneal avascularity (angiogenic privilege). This study was undertaken to investigate whether deficiencies of these factors altered developmental and inflammation-induced angiogenesis in the cornea and developmental angiogenesis of the iris of m...
Article
A form of systemic tolerance is created when antigenic material is placed in the anterior chamber of the eye, an immune privileged site. Termed anterior chamber associated immune deviation (ACAID), this form of tolerance insures that the systemic immune response to eye-derived antigens is devoid of T cells that mediate delayed hypersensitivity and...
Article
Full-text available
APCs deployed within iris/ciliary body are responsible for promoting anterior chamber-associated immune deviation following injection of Ag into the eye. TGFbeta-2, a constituent of the ocular microenvironment, converts conventional APCs that are pulsed with Ag into cells that induce immune deviation when injected into naive mice. TGFbeta-2-treated...
Article
Full-text available
Posttransplantation infusion of donor bone marrow cells (BMC) can prolong allograft survival in antilymphocyte antibody- (ALA) treated recipients. This study examined the hypothesis that chimerism of donor BMC origin contributes to allograft unresponsiveness. Survival of day 0 skin grafts from C3H (H2k) donors was prolonged on ALA-treated B6AF1 mic...
Article
Allograft unresponsiveness can be induced by donor bone marrow cells (BMC) in antilymphocyte serum (ALS)-treated recipients. The effect of administering monoclonal anti-CD4 and -CD8 at several points has been examined in a mouse skin allograft model of this protocol. Brief peritransplant administration of anti-CD4 and -CD8 was used to replace ALS....
Article
Survival of skin allografts made to antilymphocyte serum (ALS)-treated recipients is prolonged by posttransplant intravenous injection of donor strain bone marrow cells (BMC). If asialofetuin (ASF) is coinjected with the BMC, the prolonged graft survival is augmented (e.g., median survival time increased from 43 days to 72 days by injection of ASF)...

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