Oxidative stress is a major factor in the pathogenesis of age-related macular degeneration (AMD). Iron may catalyze the Fenton reaction resulting in overproduction of reactive oxygen species. Transferrin receptor 2 plays a critical role in iron homeostasis and variability in its gene may influence oxidative stress and AMD occurrence. To verify this hypothesis we assessed the association between...

Understanding genetic causes of age-related macular degeneration (AMD) will eventually yield effective discoveries and improvements in predictive/prognostic methods. These include, but are not limited to, reliable disease prediction (screening for increased discrimination of clinical risk), differential classification of AMD subtypes with biomarkers (development of risk-linked molecular taxonom...

Age-related macular degeneration (AMD) is a leading cause of legal blindness in the elderly in the industrialized world and the third major cause of blindness around the globe. Although neovascular AMD is less prevalent than atrophic AMD, it accounts for most cases with severe visual loss from AMD. VEGF seems to be a key contributary factor in the pathophysiology underlying neovascular AMD. Unt...

Age- related Macular Degeneration (AMD) is the leading cause of severe visual impairment in people 65 years and older in industrialized nations. Exudative, or "wet", AMD is a late form of AMD (as distinguished from atrophic, so-called dry, AMD) and is responsible for over 60% of all cases of blindness due to AMD. It is widely accepted that vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) is a key comp...

Age related macular degeneration (AMD) is the leading cause of blindness among people aged 50 and over. Retinal deposition of amyloid-β (Aβ) aggregates in AMD patients has suggested a potential link between AMD and Alzheimer's disease (AD). We have evaluated the differential retinal expression profile of miRNAs in a rat model of AMD elicited by Aβ. A serum profile of miRNAs in AMD patients has ...

Age-related macular degeneration (AMD) is a major cause of blindness in older people and is caused by loss of the central region of the retinal pigment epithelium (RPE). Conventional methods of gene expression analysis have yielded important insights into AMD pathogenesis, but the precise molecular pathway alterations are still poorly understood. Therefore we developed a new software program, "...

BACKGROUND The purpose of this study was to assess the use of oral antioxidant supplements in patients with late age-related macular degeneration (AMD) and to identify influencing factors that may affect the use of such supplements. METHODS The study included 47 patients with late AMD. Using a questionnaire, the patients were asked for their demographic, ophthalmologic, and systemic data, the...

Smoking is the best characterized risk factor for AMD(1). The initial observations performed in Caucasian populations from Western countries(2), are now being confirmed in other ethnic groups, such as AfricanAmericans(3), Latino-American(4), or Asian populations(5-7). In most studies, the risk for late AMD was multiplied by 2.5 to 4.5 in current smokers. In addition, the dose-response relations...

PURPOSE To compare the state of the posterior vitreous in exudative age-related macular degeneration (AMD) with eyes with nonexudative AMD and controls. DESIGN Prospective, observational case series. METHODS B-scan ultrasonography and optical coherence tomography (OCT) were performed in 163 eyes from 82 subjects older than 55 years, 50 eyes with exudative AMD, 57 with nonexudative AMD, and ...

AIM To clarify whether the cardio-ankle vascular index (CAVI) independently contributes to the development of exudative age-related macular degeneration (AMD) compared with carotid arteriosclerosis parameters and other risk factors. METHODS Eighty-eight consecutive patients with exudative AMD were enrolled. A control group (40 age-matched men, 65 years of age or older) was also evaluated, and...