LAUSR

Age-related macular degeneration: Agerelated macular degeneration (AMD) is a retinal degenerative disorder, characterized by the irreversible loss of the central vision during ageing. This chronic, progressive disease has been estimated to currently affect around 196 million people worldwide and will increase to 288 million in 2040 (Wong, et al., 2014). Early AMD is defined by the presence of drusen underneath the retinal pigment epithelial (RPE) layer. Late AMD can be divided into two groups, “wet AMD” and “dry AMD”, depending on the underlying clinical features. Wet AMD demonstrates a clinic feature of choroidal neovascularization (CNV) in which new blood vessels protrude from the choroid through the Bruch’s membrane and interfere with the morphological architecture of RPE and the superficial retina. Wet AMD accounts for approximately 10% of AMD patients, but for around 90% of resultant blind registration. Targeting vascular endothelial growth factor treatment greatly suppresses CNV progression in most wet AMD patients. Dry AMD is characterized by geographic atrophy and no effective therapy is available for dry AMD patients (Pikuleva and Curcio, 2014; Wong et al., 2014).