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Return to: BETASERON (interferon beta-1b, Betaferon, Extavia)
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#Post#: 1271--------------------------------------------------
MS drug interferon-β as treatment for age-related macular d
egeneration?
By: agate Date: June 28, 2016, 8:18 pm
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From Medical News Today, June 27, 2016:
[quote]The multiple sclerosis drug interferon-β as
treatment for age-related macular degeneration?
Adapted Media Release
Age-related macular degeneration (AMD) is the leading cause of
blindness among the elderly. AMD is a multifactorial disease and
major risk factors include age, smoking, and chronic activation
of the immune system.
A recent preclinical study conducted in the Laboratory for
Experimental Immunology of the Eye at the University Hospital in
Cologne (Germany) revealed a potential new treatment form for
AMD patients. Notably, the results of the study identified that
interferon-β, an immunomodulatory drug that is prescribed
to multiple sclerosis patients since the 1990s, could help to
treat retinal inflammatory diseases such as AMD. The study was
published in the June 2016 issue of EMBO Molecular Medicine.
AMD occurs in two main clinical forms: the dry form with
geographic atrophy and the exudative form. The dry form is
characterized by accumulation of cellular debris in the
subretinal space while the exudative form typically presents
with neovascular processes. Anti-vascular endothelial growth
factor (VEGF) medication is presently the gold standard for the
treatment of choroidal neovascularization. However, nearly 30%
of all AMD patients do not respond to anti-VEGF treatment or
lose responsiveness after a few intra-vitreal injections.
Moreover, inhibition of angiogenesis does not affect the
immunological events and fails to be effective in the dry form
of AMD.
The researchers found that mice lacking the
interferon-α/β receptor showed a very severe outcome
in a laser-induced model of neovascular AMD when compared to
control animals. Using specific genetically modified animals the
group then identified that one single immune cell population of
the retina, termed "microglia" were the main drivers of chronic
inflammation and aberrant blood vessel formation.
"We did not expect that deficiency of this immune receptor in
microglia only would have such dramatic consequences on the
complete retina", says the lead principal investigator Thomas
Langmann, professor at the University Hospital of Cologne.
Researchers then concluded that restoring of a proper retinal
immune system could be achieved by treating the diseased animals
with the MS drug interferon-β.
The team indeed then found that interferon-β therapy
significantly reduced inflammation in the retina that resulted
in preserved vision. "Although the immunomodulatory potential of
Interferon-β has been studied in an experimental model of
AMD, these findings underscore its strategic promise for future
therapeutic approaches to controlling chronic inflammation in
AMD", says professor Langmann.
The authors of the publication were associated with the Cologne
Laboratory for Experimental Immunology of the Eye
(www.expimmeye.uni-koeln.de
http://www.expimmeye.uni-koeln.de
), the Institute of
Neuropathology in Freiburg and the TWINCORE Centre for
Experimental and Clinical Infection Research in Hannover,
Germany.
_________
Article: Interferon‐beta signaling in retinal mononuclear
phagocytes attenuates pathological neovascularization, L�ckoff
A, Caramoy A, Scholz R, Prinz M, Kalinke U, Langmann T, EMBO
Molecular Medicine.[/quote]
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