Molecular Insights into Corneal Wound Healing and Inflammation

Dear Colleagues,

During its evolution, the cornea has developed an exclusive process of wound healing designed to maintain and regenerate the tissue while preserving its transparency. Despite its similarities to other tissues such as skin, the cornea is characterized by a lack of vessels, dense sensory innervation, and a specific population of immune resident cells, making it a specialized tissue that requires a high level of scientific attention. The active crosstalk between sensory nerves and immune cells is essential for maintaining its avascularity, transparency, and immune privilege; however, alterations in the environment caused by trauma, infection, ocular surface diseases, or surgery trigger the cornea to undergo an active healing process, first to maintain the external barrier of the eye and then to restore its transparency and sensory functions. Multiple cellular events involving cell death, proliferation, migration, differentiation, and extracellular matrix remodeling are orchestrated to effectively repair the damaged tissue; however, the final resolution of the wound healing is a much more complex process in which inflammatory mediators are key components that mediate the balance between full restoration of the corneal integrity and functionality, or fibrosis. While a suitable inflammatory reaction is necessary for infection eradication and proper wound healing, exacerbated inflammation is the main trigger of edema, fibrosis, and loss of sensory function. Despite numerous advances in managing corneal wound healing, inflammatory-related complications such as ocular pain, fibrosis, diabetic keratopathies, dry eye, graft failure, viral infections, or dystrophies, among many others, remain the main public health concerns. In this Special Issue, we welcome all types of manuscripts from both basic and clinical research aimed at elucidating new strategies for modulating the inflammatory response while promoting the restoration of the cornea’s intrinsic functions.

Dr. Tomas Blanco
Guest Editor

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• corneal wound healing
• corneal transplantation
• sensory nerves
• neovascularization
• fibrosis
• growth factors
• cytokines
• neuropeptides