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Immunological aspects of age‐related macular degeneration: implications for treatment
Author(s) -
CHAN C
Publication year - 2012
Publication title -
acta ophthalmologica
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.534
H-Index - 87
eISSN - 1755-3768
pISSN - 1755-375X
DOI - 10.1111/j.1755-3768.2012.3644.x
Subject(s) - medicine , macular degeneration , infliximab , disease , inflammation , immunosuppression , clinical trial , daclizumab , adverse effect , methotrexate , psoriasis , intensive care medicine , immunology , bioinformatics , pharmacology , monoclonal antibody , ophthalmology , antibody , biology
Purpose To review immunological aspects of AMD with implications for treatment Methods literature review and personal collaborative studies Results As inflammation is recognized to play a role in AMD pathogenesis, systemic and local anti‐inflammatory therapies have been recently used for disease prevention and/or in combination with anti‐VEGF medications for the treatment of exudative/neovascular disease. Several small AMD clinical trials have demonstrated potential benefits of immunomodulatory medications such as corticosteroids, non‐steroidal anti‐inflammatory drugs (NSAID), immunosuppression (methotrexate and sirolimus), and biologics (infliximab and daclizumab); ongoing studies are now investigating complement component inhibitors. Conclusion Since inflammation is only one component of most retinal diseases, current anti‐inflammatory therapies merely provide palliative treatment. Further investigation of adverse effects and long‐term follow‐up on the anti‐inflammatory medications are warranted.