title: Autophagy regulating kinases as potential therapeutic targets for age-related macular degeneration.
abstract: Age-related macular degeneration (AMD) is the leading cause of central vision loss in the elderly in the developed countries. The number of AMD patients will double during the next decades due to increasing number of aged people. Chronic oxidative stress, inflammation and accumulation of protein-rich deposits both in the retinal pigment epithelium lysosomes and under the retinal pigment epithelium herald the onset of AMD. The disease can be divided into dry and wet AMD forms. The dry form of the disease is more prevalent accounting for up to 90% of all cases. Continued intraocular injections are the current treatment strategy to prevent progression of wet AMD. It is a major challenge to develop new drugs that could prevent or at least ease the symptoms of the increasing population of AMD patients. Since AMD pathology is clearly associated with accumulated protein deposits, the autophagy clearance system might represent a potential future therapeutic target for AMD as is thoroughly discussed here.
authors.affiliation: Department of Ophthalmology, Institute of Clinical Medicine, University of Eastern Finland, Kuopio, Finland. kai.kaarniranta@uef.fi
authors.forename: Kai
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Kaarniranta
authors.forename: Anu
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Kauppinen
authors.forename: Janusz
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Blasiak
authors.forename: Antero
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Salminen
mesh_terms: D000091162:AMP-Activated Protein Kinase Kinases; D000818:Animals; D001343:Autophagy / Q000187:drug effects; D055808:Drug Discovery / Q000379:methods; D006801:Humans; D008266:Macula Lutea / Q000187:drug effects / Q000201:enzymology / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology*; D008268:Macular Degeneration / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000201:enzymology / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology*; D058990:Molecular Targeted Therapy / Q000379:methods*; D011494:Protein Kinases / Q000378:metabolism*; D037761:Sirtuins / Q000378:metabolism*; D058570:TOR Serine-Threonine Kinases / Q000378:metabolism*
chemical_list: D011494:Protein Kinases; D058570:TOR Serine-Threonine Kinases; D000091162:AMP-Activated Protein Kinase Kinases; D037761:Sirtuins