I am very excited to share our latest work from the Rothlin-Ghosh Lab! I’m grateful to my co-author Yemsratch Akalu and everyone involved.
🔬👁 Below is a 🧵 of our main findings:
Early-onset retinal degeneration was thought to be a direct consequence of failed MERTK-mediated phagocytosis of photoreceptor outer segments by RPE cells.
In our first study, we found that the loss of Mertk alone was not sufficient for retinal degeneration. Instead, retinal degeneration manifests only when Mertk and Tyro3 are concomitantly lost.
https://t.co/yws41bp0VX
We have now shown that the early-onset retinal degeneration caused by loss of Mertk and Tyro3 is due to RPE inflammation (even before eye-opening), and not due to failed phagocytosis, as previously thought.
Moreover, inhibition of RPE inflammation with Ruxolitinib, a JAK1/2 inhibitor, mitigated the severity of the aggressive, early-onset retina degeneration phenotype observed in Mertk knock out mice.