TY - JOUR
T1 - Role of retinal amyloid-β in neurodegenerative diseases
T2 - Overlapping mechanisms and emerging clinical applications
AU - Wang, Liang
AU - Mao, Xiaobo
N1 - Funding Information:
Funding: This work was funded by NIH R01 NS107318, NIH K01 AG056841, American Parkinson’s Disease Association, Parkinson’s Foundation the Stanley Fahn Junior Faculty Award PF-JFA-1933, Maryland Stem Cell Research Foundation Discovery Award 2019-MSCRFD-4292.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2021 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.
PY - 2021/3/1
Y1 - 2021/3/1
N2 - Amyloid-β (Aβ) accumulations have been identified in the retina for neurodegenera-tion-associated disorders like Alzheimer’s disease (AD), glaucoma, and age-related macular degeneration (AMD). Elevated retinal Aβ levels were associated with progressive retinal neuro-degeneration, elevated cerebral Aβ accumulation, and increased disease severity with a decline in cognition and vision. Retinal Aβ accumulation and its pathological effects were demonstrated to occur prior to irreversible neurodegeneration, which highlights its potential in early disease detection and intervention. Using the retina as a model of the brain, recent studies have focused on characterizing retinal Aβ to determine its applicability for population-based screening of AD, which warrants a further understanding of how Aβ manifests between these disorders. While current treatments directly targeting Aβ accumulations have had limited results, continued ex-ploration of Aβ-associated pathological pathways may yield new therapeutic targets for preserving cognition and vision. Here, we provide a review on the role of retinal Aβ manifestations in these distinct neurodegeneration-associated disorders. We also discuss the recent applications of retinal Aβ for AD screening and current clinical trial outcomes for Aβ-associated treatment approaches. Lastly, we explore potential future therapeutic targets based on overlapping mechanisms of pathophysiology in AD, glaucoma, and AMD.
AB - Amyloid-β (Aβ) accumulations have been identified in the retina for neurodegenera-tion-associated disorders like Alzheimer’s disease (AD), glaucoma, and age-related macular degeneration (AMD). Elevated retinal Aβ levels were associated with progressive retinal neuro-degeneration, elevated cerebral Aβ accumulation, and increased disease severity with a decline in cognition and vision. Retinal Aβ accumulation and its pathological effects were demonstrated to occur prior to irreversible neurodegeneration, which highlights its potential in early disease detection and intervention. Using the retina as a model of the brain, recent studies have focused on characterizing retinal Aβ to determine its applicability for population-based screening of AD, which warrants a further understanding of how Aβ manifests between these disorders. While current treatments directly targeting Aβ accumulations have had limited results, continued ex-ploration of Aβ-associated pathological pathways may yield new therapeutic targets for preserving cognition and vision. Here, we provide a review on the role of retinal Aβ manifestations in these distinct neurodegeneration-associated disorders. We also discuss the recent applications of retinal Aβ for AD screening and current clinical trial outcomes for Aβ-associated treatment approaches. Lastly, we explore potential future therapeutic targets based on overlapping mechanisms of pathophysiology in AD, glaucoma, and AMD.
KW - Age-related macular degeneration
KW - Alzheimer’s disease
KW - Amyloid-β
KW - Glaucoma
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U2 - 10.3390/ijms22052360
DO - 10.3390/ijms22052360
M3 - Review article
C2 - 33653000
AN - SCOPUS:85101522973
SN - 1661-6596
VL - 22
SP - 1
EP - 25
JO - International journal of molecular sciences
JF - International journal of molecular sciences
IS - 5
M1 - 2360
ER -