Ophthalmology angiogenesis

Age-related macular degeneration (AMD) is a progressive, degenerative disease of the macula. The formation of macular neovascularization (MNV) and subretinal fibrosis of AMD is the most classic cause of the loss of vision in older adults worldwide. While the underlying causes of MNV and subretinal fibrosis remain elusive, the common feature of many common retinal diseases is changes the proportions of protein deposition in extracellular matrix (ECM) when compared to normal tissue. In ECM, fibronectin (FN) is a crucial component and plays a pivotal part not only in fibrotic diseases but also in the process of angiogenesis...

Retinal neovascularization (RNV) is a pathological process that primarily occurs in diabetic retinopathy, retinopathy of prematurity, and retinal vein occlusion. It is a common yet debilitating clinical condition that culminates in blindness. Urgent efforts are required to explore more efficient and less limiting therapeutic strategies. Key RNA-binding proteins (RBPs), crucial for post-transcriptional regulation of gene expression by binding to RNAs, are closely correlated with RNV development. RBP-RNA interactions are altered during RNV...

The lens is an avascular tissue, where epithelial cells (LECs) are the primary living cells. The role of LECs-derived exosomes (LEC-exos) is largely unknown. In our study, we determined the anti-angiogenic role of LEC-exos, manifested as regressed retinal neovascularization (NV) using the oxygen-induced retinopathy (OIR), and reduced choroidal NV size and pathological vascular leakage using the laser-induced choroidal neovascularization (laser-induced CNV). Furthermore, the activation and accumulation of microglia were also restricted by LEC-exos...

BACKGROUND: Studies have uncovered LCN2 as a marker of inflammation strongly related to obesity, insulin resistance, and abnormal glucose metabolism in humans, and is involved in vascular diseases, inflammatory diseases, and neurological diseases. In recent years, studies have shown that elevated levels of LCN2 have a strong association with diabetic retinopathy (DR), but the pathogenesis is unknown. Here, we reviewed the relevant literature and compiled the pathogenesis associated with LCN2-induced DR...

OBJECTIVES: To investigate a comprehensive proteomic profile of the tear fluid in patients with diabetic retinopathy (DR) and further define non-invasive biomarkers. METHODS: A cross-sectional, multicentre study that includes 46 patients with DR, 28 patients with diabetes mellitus (DM), and 30 healthy controls (HC). Tear samples were collected with Schirmer strips. As for the discovery set, data-independent acquisition mass spectrometry was used to characterize the tear proteomic profile...

PURPOSE: Diabetic retinopathy (DR) is a major cause of irreversible blindness in the working-age population. Neovascularization is an important hallmark of advanced DR. There is evidence that Yes-associated protein (YAP)/transcriptional co-activator with a PDZ binding domain (TAZ) plays an important role in angiogenesis and that its activity is regulated by vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF). Therefore, the aim of this study was to investigate the effect of YAP/TAZ-VEGF crosstalk on the angiogenic capacity of human retinal microvascular endothelial cells (hRECs) in a high-glucose environment...

AIMS: To explore prognostic multimarker models for progression to macular fibrosis (MF) over 24 months specific to type 3 macular neovascularisation (T3 MNV). METHODS: This retrospective, exploratory, single-centre, cohort study comprised 65 eyes of 43 Caucasian patients with treatment naive T3 MNV, all with a 24-month follow-up post anti-VEGF therapy using a strict pro-re-nata (PRN) regimen. Data on demographic features, clinical findings, frequency of intravitreal treatments and optical coherence tomography biomarkers were collected at baseline and after 12 and 24 months of follow-up...

BACKGROUND/AIMS: We characterised the relationships between monitoring frequency, ranibizumab injection need and vision in patients receiving as-needed (pro re nata; PRN) ranibizumab for macular oedema due to branch retinal vein occlusion (BRVO) or central retinal vein occlusion (CRVO) in this post-hoc analysis of SHORE and HORIZON. METHODS: Patients aged 18 years and older with macular oedema due to BRVO/CRVO were included in this analysis. Injection frequency and best-corrected visual acuity (BCVA) were evaluated by PRN injection frequency in the PRN dosing phase (months (M) 7-15) of SHORE and through 12 months of HORIZON...

PURPOSE: Transthyretin (TTR) plays a regulatory role in a variety of diabetes-related diseases. The objective of this work was to probe whether TTR affects diabetic retinopathy (DR) through the VEGFA/PI3K/AKT pathway. METHODS: High glucose (HG, 25 mM) was used to treat human retinal microvascular endothelial cells (hRMECs) and C57BL/6J mice were intraperitoneally injected with STZ (50 mg/kg) to construct a DR model. In vitro, the effect of TTR on DR was evaluated by measuring hRMEC proliferation, migration, and angiogenesis...

Vasohibin-2 (VASH2) is confirmed to be associated with angiogenesis. To investigate the vitreous levels of VASH2 and how VASH2 induces angiogenesis in proliferative diabetic retinopathy (PDR), a total of 120 eyes were enrolled in this prospective and randomized controlled study and the vitreous level of VASH2 was quantified by Luminex liquid suspension chip. Vector systems were applied in human retinal microvascular endothelial cells (HRMECs) for VASH2 gene overexpression, along with interfering lentiviral vectors (VASH2-shRNA) for VASH2 gene silencing...

PURPOSE: Metformin, a biguanide antihyperglycemic drug, can exert various beneficial effects in addition to its glucose-lowering effect. The effects of metformin are mainly mediated by AMP-activated protein kinase (AMPK)-dependent pathway. AMPK activation interferes with the action of the mammalian target of rapamycin complex 1 (mTORC1), and blockade of mTORC1 pathway suppresses pathological retinal angiogenesis. Therefore, in this study, we examined the effects of metformin on pathological angiogenesis and mTORC1 activity in the retinas of mice with oxygen-induced retinopathy (OIR)...

AIM: To investigate the impact of niosome nanoparticles carrying umbelliprenin (UMB), an anti-angiogenic and anti-inflammatory plant compound, on the expression of vascular endothelial growth factor ( VEGF-A ) and connective tissue growth factor ( CTGF ) genes in a human retinal pigment epithelium (RPE)-like retina-derived cell line. METHODS: UMB-containing niosomes were created, optimized, and characterized. RPE-like cells were treated with free UMB and UMB-containing niosomes...

The application of molecular and cellular imaging in ophthalmology has numerous benefits. It can enable the early detection and diagnosis of ocular diseases, facilitating timely intervention and improved patient outcomes. Molecular imaging techniques can help identify disease biomarkers, monitor disease progression, and evaluate treatment responses. Furthermore, these techniques allow researchers to gain insights into the pathogenesis of ocular diseases and develop novel therapeutic strategies. Molecular and cellular imaging can also allow basic research to elucidate the normal physiological processes occurring within the eye, such as cell signaling, tissue remodeling, and immune responses...

BACKGROUND: Natural and diet-derived angiogenesis inhibitors/promotors are widely found in diets. These compounds can in several ways impact the results of oncological research of angiogenesis inhibitors. METHODS: We very briefly overview some of the most important examples to show how these compounds can create a bias in current research of cancer. Implications of this expert opinion cover similar angiogenesis-related diseases. RESULTS: Significant intra-individual differences in terms of dietary intake and differential effect of food processing techniques result in differential bioactivity and bioavailability of these compounds...

PURPOSE: Corneal neovascularization (CNV) impairs corneal transparency and visual acuity. The study aims to deepen our understanding of the molecules involved in CNV induced by alkali burns, facilitate a better grasp of CNV mechanisms, and uncover potential therapeutic targets. METHODS: Eighty-four mice were selected for establishing CNV models via alkali burns. On days 3, 7, and 14 after the burns, corneal observations and histological investigations were conducted...

PURPOSE: Continuous vision loss due to vasoproliferative eye disease still represents an unsolved issue despite anti-vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) therapy. The impact of signal transducer and activator of transcription 3 (STAT3) signaling on retinal angiogenesis and its potential use as a therapeutic target remain controversial. In vitro, oncostatin M (OSM), as a strong STAT3 activator, possesses robust proangiogenic activity. This study investigated to what extent the proangiogenic effects of OSM translate to the in vivo setting of vasoproliferative eye disease...

Pediatric retinal vascular diseases are a spectrum with overlapping phenotypes and related genes. Retinal vascular development is biphasic. Vasculogenesis is responsible for the formation of primordial vessels leading to the four major arcades in the posterior retina. Angiogenesis, which is vascular endothelial growth factor dependent, is responsible for the formation of new vessels through budding from existing vessels, forming the peripheral vessels, increasing the capillary density of the central retina, and forming the superficial and deep capillary plexus...

PURPOSE: Retinal neovascularization (RNV) is the leading cause of vision loss in diseases like proliferative diabetic retinopathy (PDR). A significant failure rate of current treatments indicates the need for novel treatment targets. Animal models are crucial in this process, but current diabetic retinopathy models do not develop RNV. Although the nondiabetic oxygen-induced retinopathy (OIR) mouse model is used to study RNV development, it is largely unknown how closely it resembles human PDR...

PURPOSE: The detrimental effects of pathological angiogenesis on the visual function are indisputable. Within a prominent role in chromosome segregation and tumor progression, aurora kinase B (AURKB) assumes a prominent role. However, its role in pathological retinal angiogenesis remains unclear. This study explores this latent area. METHODS: To inhibit AURKB expression, we designed specific small interfering RNAs targeting AURKB and introduced them into vascular endothelial cells...

PURPOSE: Experimental studies provide evidence that regulation of VEGF receptor-2 signaling in endothelial cells orders cell divisions and extends developmental angiogenesis while inhibiting pathologic intravitreal angiogenesis and has relevance to retinopathy of prematurity (ROP). We tested the hypothesis that intravitreal anti-VEGF would extend vascularization into peripheral avascular retina in human type 1 ROP compared to controls. DESIGN: Retrospective, non-randomized treatment comparison METHODS: Setting: Academic institution STUDY POPULATION: All premature infants screened for ROP from January 2019 through December 2022...