Expression von Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor (VEGF) in retinalem Pigmentepithel bei altersabhängiger Makuladegeneration (Expression of angiogenic factors and their regulation in human retinal pigment epithelium of patients with age-related macular degeneration)

• Applicant: Professor Dr. Lutz Lothar Hansen
• Subject Area: Ophthalmology
• Term: from 2000 to 2003
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 5238644

In age-related macular degeneration (AMD), choroidal neovascularization (CNV) reflects dysfunctional local angioregulation. Therefore, angioregulation is expected to hold keys to therapeutic interventions in AMD. Proper choriocapillaris maintenance demands intact retinal pigment epithelial cells (RPE). At this point, neither thephysiologically active local mechanisms of angioregulation nor their chances in AMD are sufficiently understood. In a current project granted by DFG (Ha 2537/2-1) we established RPE cell cultures from human CNV speciments. We started to compare the expression of angiogenic mediators and their receptors in CNV-derived cultures with control RPE cultures using tols of molecular biology. The influence of different stimuli with a putative role in RPE-choriocapillaris signalling will be assessed on the transcriptional and translational level by RT-PCR, northern blot, western blot, and immunohistochemistry, respectively.

• DFG Programme: Priority Programmes
• Subproject of: SPP 1088: Age-Related Macular Degeneration