title: Age-related macular degeneration: a target for nanotechnology derived medicines.
abstract: Despite the fact that the retina is a fairly accessible portion of the central nervous system, there are virtually no treatments for early age-related macular degeneration (AMD). AMD is a degenerative retinal disease that causes progressive loss of central vision and is the leading cause of irreversible vision loss and legal blindness in individuals over the age of 50. Both environmental and genetic components play a role in its development. AMD is a multifactorial disease with characteristics that include drusen, hyperpigmentation and/or hypopigmentation of the retinal pigment epithelium (RPE), geographic atrophy and, in a subset of patients, late-stage choroidal neovascularization (CNV). Drugs that inhibit vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) have proven effective in treating late-stage CNV, but optimal means of drug delivery remains to be determined. Microscopic particles, whose size is on the nanometer scale, show considerable promise for drug delivery to the retina, for gene therapy, and for powering prosthetic "artificial retinas." This article summarizes the pathophysiology of AMD stressing potential applications from nanotechnology.
authors.affiliation: Retina Foundation of the Southwest, Dallas, TX 75231, USA. dbirch@retinafoundation.org
authors.forename: David G
authors.initials: DG
authors.lastname: Birch
authors.forename: Fong Qi
authors.initials: FQ
authors.lastname: Liang
mesh_terms: D002986:Clinical Trials as Topic / Q000639:trends; D004337:Drug Carriers / Q000737:chemistry*; D016503:Drug Delivery Systems / Q000379:methods*; D015316:Genetic Therapy / Q000379:methods*; D006801:Humans; D008268:Macular Degeneration / Q000188:drug therapy*; D050997:Nanomedicine / Q000639:trends*; D049329:Nanostructures / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000648:ultrastructure; D010316:Particle Size; D010778:Photochemotherapy / Q000379:methods*
chemical_list: D004337:Drug Carriers