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This abstract is assigned to session Free Papers Session 1

Presentation preference	Oral presentation
Title	Unraveling the functions of the purinergic receptor P2X7 in experimental autoimmune uveitis (EAU)

Purpose	Uveitis are inflammatory eye diseases of various origins which can be debilitating and lead to blindness. During disease, damaged cells release high levels of extracellular ATP, which constitutes a potent danger signal. The purinergic receptor P2X7 is the main sensor of high amounts of extracellular ATP and its activation triggers an inflammatory response and/or induces cell death. P2X7 expression is increased in various neurodegenerative and autoimmune diseases, in particular P2X7 was shown to be up-regulated in monocytes from patients with Behçet’s disease. Thus, P2X7 may contribute to the development of uveitis via its expression on immune cells. Our data showed that P2X7 is expressed in the different immune cell subpopulations in the retina during EAU. Given the multiple functions of P2X7, its activation could play distinct roles in the development of the disease depending on the cell type that expresses it.
Methods	We investigated the function of P2X7 using active and passive EAU models and new conditional P2X7 knockout mouse strains.
Results	Although we found no significant effect of P2X7 invalidation in T-cells, we showed that the severity of EAU was significantly reduced when P2X7 was specifically depleted in retinal microglia and infiltrating macrophages. The decreased severity was associated with reduced expression of inflammatory mediators.
Conclusion	Thus, targeted inhibition of P2X7 could be a promising therapeutic approach for the treatment of uveitis.
Conflict of interest	No

Authors 1

Last name	DELARASSE
Initials of first name(s)	C
Department	Institut de la Vision - Sorbonne University
City	Paris
Country	France

Authors 2

Last name	Dechelle-Marquet
Initials of first name(s)	P-A
Department	Institut de la Vision - Sorbonne University
City	Paris
Country	France

Authors 3

Last name	Lagouge-Roussey
Initials of first name(s)	P
Department	Institut de la Vision - Sorbonne University
City	Paris
Country	France

Authors 4

Last name	Augustin
Initials of first name(s)	S
Department	Institut de la Vision - Sorbonne University
City	Paris
Country	France

Authors 5

Last name	Touhami
Initials of first name(s)	S
Department	Hôpital de la Pitié-Salpêtrière - Sorbonne University
City	Paris
Country	France

Authors 6

Last name	Bodaghi
Initials of first name(s)	B
Department	Hôpital de la Pitié-Salpêtrière - Sorbonne University
City	Paris
Country	France

Authors 7

Last name	Guillonneau
Initials of first name(s)	X
Department	Institut de la Vision - Sorbonne University
City	Paris
Country	France

Authors 8

Last name	Sennlaub
Initials of first name(s)	F
Department	Institut de la Vision - Sorbonne University
City	Paris
Country	France