Angiogenesis and lymphangiogenesis-implications for corneal immunity.

It is now widely acknowledged that vasculogenesis and immunogenic inflammation are intricately related in many tissues. However, less understood is to what extent blood (heme) angiogenesis (HA) and lymphangiogenesis (LG) are differentially regulated, and in turn contribute potentially to different aspects of adaptive immunity generated to corneal antigens. Herein, we will provide a brief synopsis of relevant work in this field by focusing particularly on the differential regulation of immunity by these two distinct vasculogenic processes in the cornea, illustrating that in spite of significant redundancies in the mechanisms that induce these vascular processes in the cornea, there are also important distinctions in what aspects of immunity are promoted by them.