| Within the Department of Ophthalmology of the AMC, basic research on diabetic retinopathy, age-related macular degeneration, angiogenesis and fibrosis has been a major research line in the last ten years. In the last year, our research group has investigated the pathobiological mechanisms underlying the two most important blinding diseases of the Western world: diabetic retinopathy (DR) and age-related macular degeneration (AMD). Blindness in DR and AMD is caused by vascular leakage, angiogenesis and scarring. Therefore our translational research projects have focussed on the cellular and molecular mechanisms involved. By a collaborative approach we have studied the following main subjects: -Cellular and molecular basis of increased microvascular permeability in DR. -Interactions between endothelial cells, leukocytes and platelets in DR as a cause of capillary loss in DR. -Role of connective tissue growth factor (CTGF) in DR. -Role of VEGF and its receptors in the healthy eye, angiogenesis, and in DR. -Pro-and anti-angiogenic functions of the retinal pigment epithelium in the pathogenesis of AMD. These studies have led to several important contributions to the field: - the discovery that polarized secretion of VEGF by epithelia maintains fenestrated capillaries in the normal eye and other tissues - the discovery that altered vesicular transport via caveolae is an important mechanism of VEGF-induced retinal vascular leakage - identification of retinal endothelial cell hypertrophy as a cause of vascular occlusion in DR - the discovery that CTGF causes basement membrane thickening in PCDR and fibrosis in PDR |
