Bevacizumab cured age-related macular degeneration (AMD) via down-regulate TLR2 pathway

2014 ◽  
Vol 9 (5) ◽  
pp. 469-475 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zhi Wang ◽  
Bao Qiao ◽  
Guo Li ◽  
Shi Li ◽  
Li Wang ◽  
...  

AbstractAMD is the main cause of visual impairment in people over 50 years of age and the most common cause of blindness. In recent years, the use of bevacizumab to treat neovascular AMD has become a preferred treatment in the United States. However, whether bevacozumab is available for RPE or AMD patients is unknown. We firstly indicate that Pam3CSK4 (P3C) activates TLR2 pathway during ARPE-19 apoptosis as determined by western blotting. And then, the expression of MyD88, NF-κB, p-IKK in primary RPE cells from AMD patients is significantly down-regulated after treatment with 50 µg L−1 Bevacizumab. Therefore, our data shows that MyD88 is involved in the TLR2 pathway in ARPE-19 cell apoptosis resulting from Pam3CSK4 (P3C). And more importantly, our findings suggested that Bevacizumab cured age-related macular degeneration (AMD) via down-regulate Toll—like receptor 2 (TLR2) pathway in RPE from AMD patients.

2020 ◽  
Vol 4 (2) ◽  
pp. 122-133 ◽  
Author(s):  
Arshad M. Khanani ◽  
Adrian Skelly ◽  
Vladimir Bezlyak ◽  
Ray Griner ◽  
Laura Rodriguez Torres ◽  
...  

Retina ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 36 (2) ◽  
pp. 285-298 ◽  
Author(s):  
Melissa M. Brown ◽  
Gary C. Brown ◽  
Heidi B. Lieske ◽  
Irwin Tran ◽  
Adam Turpcu ◽  
...  

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Meenakshi Ambati ◽  
Ivana Apicella ◽  
Siddharth Narendran ◽  
Shao-bin Wang ◽  
Hannah Leung ◽  
...  

AbstractThe atrophic form of age-related macular degeneration (dry AMD) affects nearly 200 million people worldwide. There is no FDA-approved therapy for this disease, which is the leading cause of irreversible blindness among people over 50 years of age. Vision loss in dry AMD results from degeneration of the retinal pigmented epithelium (RPE). RPE cell death is driven in part by accumulation of Alu RNAs, which are noncoding transcripts of a human retrotransposon. Alu RNA induces RPE degeneration by activating the NLRP3-ASC inflammasome. We report that fluoxetine, an FDA-approved drug for treating clinical depression, binds NLRP3 in silico, in vitro, and in vivo, and that it inhibits activation of the NLRP3-ASC inflammasome in RPE cells and macrophages, two critical cell types in dry AMD. We also demonstrate that fluoxetine, unlike several other anti-depressant drugs, reduces Alu RNA-induced RPE degeneration in mice. Finally, by analyzing two health insurance databases comprising more than 100 million Americans, we report a reduced hazard of developing dry AMD among patients with depression who were treated with fluoxetine. Collectively, these studies triangulate to link fluoxetine as a potential drug repurposing candidate for a major unmet medical need that causes blindness in millions of people in the United States and across the world.Significance StatementDry age-related macular degeneration (AMD) affects the vision of millions of people worldwide. There is currently no FDA-approved treatment for dry AMD. The inflammasome components NLRP3 and ASC have been implicated in the pathogenesis of dry AMD. We report that fluoxetine, which is approved for the treatment of clinical depression, directly binds the NLRP3 protein and prevents the assembly and activation of the NLRP3-ASC inflammasome. As a result, it also blocks the degeneration of retinal pigmented epithelium (RPE) cells in an animal model of dry AMD. Furthermore, we demonstrate through an analysis of health insurance databases that use of this FDA-approved anti-depressant drug is associated with reduced incidence of dry AMD. These studies identify that fluoxetine is a potential repurposing candidate for AMD, a prevalent cause of blindness.


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