Damage-associated molecular pattern recognition is required for induction of retinal neuroprotective pathways in a sex-dependent manner

Retinal degeneration is a common cause of irreversible blindness and is caused by the death of retinal light-sensitive neurons called photoreceptors. At the onset of degeneration, stressed photoreceptors cause retinal glial cells to secrete neuroprotective factors that slow the pace of degeneration. Leukemia inhibitory factor (LIF) is one such factor that is required for endogenous neuroprotection. Photoreceptors are known to release signals of cellular stress, called damage-associated molecular patterns (DAMPs) early in degeneration, and we hypothesized that receptors for DAMPs or pattern recognition receptors (PRRs) play a key role in the induction of LIF and neuroprotective stress responses in retinal glial cells. Toll-like receptor 2 (TLR2) is a well-established DAMP receptor. In our experiments, activation of TLR2 protected both male and female mice from light damage, while the loss of TLR2 in female mice did not impact photoreceptor survival. In contrast, induction of protective stress responses, microglial phenotype and photoreceptor survival were strongly impacted in male TLR2 −/− mice. Lastly, using publicly available gene expression data, we show that TLR2 is expressed highly in resting microglia prior to injury, but is also induced in Müller cells in inherited retinal degeneration.