The diagnostic and prognostic potential of cytokine signatures in retinal diseases

Retinal diseases encompass a heterogeneous group of degenerative, vascular, inflammatory, and autoimmune disorders, including age-related macular degeneration (AMD), diabetic retinopathy (DR) and diabetic macular edema (DME), uveitis, and retinal vascular occlusions. Despite their distinct etiologies, these conditions share interconnected mechanisms involving chronic inflammation, oxidative stress, blood–retinal barrier dysfunction, vascular abnormalities, and neurodegeneration. Cytokines, chemokines, and other soluble mediators play central roles in regulating these processes, and dysregulated inflammatory networks may contribute to disease onset, progression, and treatment response. However, the relationships between cytokine profiles, clinical phenotypes, and retinal outcomes remain incompletely understood.Current diagnosis and disease monitoring rely largely on structural and vascular imaging modalities, including optical coherence tomography (OCT), OCT angiography (OCT-A), fundus photography, and fluorescein angiography. Although these approaches provide essential information about established tissue damage and disease activity, they may not fully capture early molecular alterations or explain the substantial interindividual variability in disease progression and therapeutic response. In particular, a considerable proportion of patients with neovascular retinal diseases show incomplete or unsustained responses to anti-vascular endothelial growth factor (anti-VEGF) therapy, highlighting the contribution of VEGF-independent inflammatory pathways. Recent studies using multiplex immunoassays, targeted proteomics, and integrated clinical–molecular profiling have demonstrated the potential of cytokine signatures in aqueous humor, vitreous, tears, serum, and plasma to support early detection, patient stratification, treatment monitoring, and outcome prediction. Nevertheless, challenges related to cohort heterogeneity, sampling procedures, assay standardization, and validation across independent populations continue to limit clinical translation.This Research Topic aims to advance the understanding of intraocular and systemic cytokine signatures as molecular indicators of retinal disease biology and to promote their translation into robust, clinically actionable biomarkers. We welcome interdisciplinary research integrating cytokine and soluble mediator profiling with advanced retinal imaging, longitudinal clinical phenotyping, and mechanistic investigation. Particular emphasis will be placed on defining disease-associated inflammatory endotypes, clarifying the cellular and molecular mechanisms underlying cytokine dysregulation, identifying biomarkers of treatment response or resistance, and evaluating the potential of cytokine-guided approaches to support precision management of inflammatory, vascular, degenerative, and neovascular retinal disorders. Studies that establish analytical validity, biological relevance, clinical utility, or reproducibility across independent cohorts are especially encouraged.The Research Topic will focus on cytokine and soluble mediator signatures in AMD, DR/DME, uveitis, retinal vascular occlusions, and related retinal disorders, while recognizing the limitations of translating findings between distinct disease entities and biological compartments. We welcome Original Research, Reviews, Mini Reviews, Perspectives, and Brief Research Reports, including preclinical, translational, and clinical studies, addressing but not limited to:• Cytokine, chemokine, and soluble mediator profiles as diagnostic, prognostic, predictive, or treatment-monitoring biomarkers in retinal diseases• Inflammatory signatures associated with disease onset, progression, recurrence, severity, or transition between clinical stages• Biomarkers of response, non-response, or acquired resistance emerging treatments targeting the immune system• Relationships between local and systemic inflammatory profiles, including comparisons of aqueous humor, vitreous, tears, serum, and plasma• Cytokine-guided patient stratification, retinal disease endotyping, risk prediction, and precision-treatment algorithms• Cellular and molecular mechanisms linking cytokine signaling to blood–retinal barrier disruption, vascular leakage, neovascularization, gliosis, and neurodegeneration• Methodological advances in multiplex immunoassays and other immunological techniques for ocular biomarker discovery• Analytical validation, inter-assay comparability, reproducibility, reference ranges, and standardization of cytokine measurements• Independent clinical, in vitro, or in vivo validation of candidate cytokine biomarkers and their potential clinical utilityPlease note: Manuscripts consisting solely of bioinformatics or computational analysis of public genomic or transcriptomic databases which are not accompanied by validation (independent cohort or biological validation in vitro or in vivo) are out of scope for this section and will not be accepted as part of this Research Topic.Please note that Dr. Marina Mesquida holds stock options in Hoffmann-La Roche. Topic editors: Marina Mesquida, Blanca Molins Source: https://www.frontiersin.org/research-topics/86052/the-diagnostic-and-prognostic-potential-of-cytokine-signatures-in-retinal-diseases