The role of inflammation and aging in age-related macular degeneration and uveal melanoma / 中华实验眼科杂志

ABSTRACT

Many eye diseases are age-related,and as the aging population increases faster than any other age group,ophthalmologists will be faced with increasing numbers of patients.If we can prevent the development of agerelated eye diseases,we can contribute a lot to a better health of elderly people.In order to do that,we have to better understand why diseases such as macular degeneration,glaucoma,and uveal melanoma develop especially in the elderly.We studied the behaviour and characteristics of eyes of old and young mice,and showed that inflammation is part of normal aging,but also increases the risk to develop eye diseases.An environmental factor that increases inflammation is smoking.Inflammation contributes to the development of age-related macular degeneration (AMD) and may play a role in glaucoma;uveal melanoma that contain many macrophages and lymphocytes carry an increased risk of metastases.Subsequent experimental work in animals shows that macrophages play an essential role in choroidal/retinal inflammation,and in intraocular tumor growth.Macrophages can be separated into M1 macrophages that stimulate specific immune responses,and M2 macrophages that stimulate angiogenesis.During aging,macrophages shift from primarily an M1 function to an M2 function,and the increased pro-angiogenic function may play a role in AMD and tumor development.Learning how to influence macrophage function will help to reduce the effect of aging and may help to prevent age-related ocular diseases.