Abstract
Neovascular retinal degenerative diseases are the leading causes of blindness in developed countries. Anti-vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) therapy is commonly used to treat these diseases currently. However, recent reports indicate that long term suppression of VEGF in the eye is associated with chorioretinal atrophy. Therefore, a physiological amount of VEGF is required for retinal homeostasis. Hypoxia-inducible factor (HIF) is a transcriptional factor upstream of VEGF. We previously reported that HIF regulated pathological angiogenesis in the retina of murine models of oxygen-induced retinopathy and laser-induced choroidal neovascularization. Most of the known HIF inhibitors are anti-cancer agents which may have systemic adverse effects in for clinical use; thus, there is a need for safer and less invasive HIF inhibitors. In this study, we screened marine products, especially fish ingredients, and found that six species of fish had HIF inhibitory effects. Among them, administration of Decapterus tabl ingredients significantly suppressed retinal neovascular tufts by inhibiting HIF expression in a murine oxygen-induced retinopathy model. These results indicate that particular fish ingredients can act as anti-angiogenic agents in retinal neovascularization diseases.
Highlights
Pathological retinal angiogenesis is a major pathology of various eye diseases such as diabetic retinopathy (DR), which is one of the most common complications of diabetes, and retinopathy of prematurity (ROP), which is a complication in low birth-weight infants [1,2,3]
We have focused on hypoxia-inducible factors (HIFs), which are transcriptional factors that regulate various genes to adapt to cellular hypoxia [14]
We previously reported that pharmacological inhibition of HIFs suppressed retinal neovascularization in murine models of oxygen-induced retinopathy (OIR), known as a retinal neovascular degeneration model [17], and laser-induced choroidal neovascularization (CNV), known as an exudative age-related macular degeneration model [18]
Summary
Pathological retinal angiogenesis is a major pathology of various eye diseases such as diabetic retinopathy (DR), which is one of the most common complications of diabetes, and retinopathy of prematurity (ROP), which is a complication in low birth-weight infants [1,2,3]. These diseases are leading causes of blindness worldwide [4,5]. Anti-VEGF therapy has been established and is commonly employed to treat this pathological angiogenesis [9].
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have