Molecular underpinnings of corneal angiogenesis: advances over the past decade.
The cornea is maintained in an avascular state by maintaining an environment whereby anti-angiogenic factors take the upper hand over factors promoting angiogenesis. Many of the common pathologies affecting the cornea involve the disruption of such equilibrium and the shift towards new vessel formation, leading to corneal opacity and eventually-vision loss. Therefore it is of paramount importance that the molecular underpinnings of corneal neovascularization (CNV) be clearly understood, in order to develop better targeted treatments. This article is a review of the literature on the recent discoveries regarding pro-angiogenic factors of the cornea (such as vascular endothelial growth factors, fibroblast growth factor and matrix metalloproteinases) and anti-angiogenic factors of the cornea (such as endostatins and neostatins). Further, we review the molecular underpinnings of lymphangiogenesis, a process now known to be almost separate from (yet related to) hemangiogenesis.
Doheny Image Reading Center, Doheny Eye Institute, Los Angeles, CA 90033, USA.
Nizar Saleh
NS
Abdelfattah
Faculty of Medicine, Cairo University, Cairo 11111, Egypt.
Mohamed
M
Amgad
Department of Oncology, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minnesota 55904, USA.
Amira A
AA
Zayed
Faculty of Oral and Dental Medicine, Cairo University, Cairo 11111, Egypt.
Heba
H
Hussein
Antibody Laboratory, Protein Research Department, Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology Research Institute, City for Scientific Research and Technology Applications, Alexandria 22033, Egypt.
Nawal
N
Abd El-Baky
angiogenesis; cornea; lymphangiogenesis; neovascularization; vascular endothelial growth factor