Summary

Cytokines are important proteins that cause inflammation and bleeding in age-related macular degeneration. We will use protein analysis methods to identify cytokines and their downstream signals that are highly expressed in the retina that is most susceptible to macular degeneration.

Project Details

In neovascular stages of age‐related macular degeneration (wet AMD), leaky blood vessels grow into the retina and damage vision. These blood vessels are coaxed into the retina by a communication “cross‐talk” that may exist between hundreds of proteins and chemicals. Drs. Vinit Mahajan, Jessica Skeie and collaborators will use special methods to identify these proteins and chemicals from retina blood vessels that were surgically removed from the eyes of human donors who were either healthy or who had been diagnosed with AMD. Comparison of the profile between healthy and diseased eyes should present a number of cross‐talk candidates. The identities of these candidates may then inspire the design of combination drugs to treat AMD before the invasion of leaky blood vessels promotes rapid loss of vision.