# Dynamics of the Ocular Immune Response During Uveitis

> **NIH NIH R21** · UNIVERSITY OF OKLAHOMA HLTH SCIENCES CTR · 2020 · $187,586

## Abstract

Abstract
 Uveitis is a potentially blinding disease’s that are a leading cause of blindness among Americans. Characteristic
of autoimmune diseases is marked relapsing and remitting inflammation of the target tissue. In the case of autoimmune
uveitis, the eye is the target and because the eye allows for the penetration of light through much of the organ, study of the
immune response in the eye has a particular advantage. This advantage being that light could be used as a non-invasive
method to label cells that are present during inflammation and migrate out as the inflammation resolves. Experimental
autoimmune uveitis (EAU) is the most widely used model of autoimmune uveitis. We propose to generate and validate a
novel mouse that stably expresses a light inducible expression system that can be used to label cells in the eye during any
point before or during EAU (Specific Aim 1). Our hypothesis is that a transgenic mouse that expresses photoactivatable
Cre will be an excellent tool to permanently label cells in the eye. Currently, the only long-term labeling systems available
rely on the injection of compounds that can be toxic and diffuse out of the target tissue. This proposal utilizes a novel
photoactivatable system that drives Cre activation to induce permanent genetic changes that allow for permanent labeling
of the target cells. A second-generation system has been demonstrated in mammalian cell lines, and in mice by
transfecting the target cells. In this proposal we will generate a novel mouse line that stably expresses the transgenes for
the purpose of answering the immunological questions that relate to an organ that readily allows for light to pass through.
Importantly, this will allow for many future studies that can be answered through a non-invasive labeling of cells at any
time in any tissue that allows for the penetration of light.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 9919552
- **Project number:** 5R21EY029240-02
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF OKLAHOMA HLTH SCIENCES CTR
- **Principal Investigator:** Darren James Lee
- **Activity code:** R21 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2020
- **Award amount:** $187,586
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2019-05-01 → 2022-04-30

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/9919552

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 9919552, Dynamics of the Ocular Immune Response During Uveitis (5R21EY029240-02). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-23 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/9919552. Licensed CC0.

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