Drusen complement components C3a and C5a promote choroidal neovascularization

Age-related macular degeneration (AMD) is the leading cause of irreversible blindness in industrialized nations, affecting 30-50 million people worldwide. The earliest clinical hallmark of AMD is the presence of drusen, extracellular deposits that accumulate beneath the retinal pigmented epithelium. Although drusen nearly always precede and increase the risk of choroidal neovascularization (CNV), the late vision-threatening stage of AMD, it is unknown whether drusen contribute to the development of CNV. Both in patients with AMD and in a recently described mouse model of AMD, early subretinal pigmented epithelium deposition of complement components C3 and C5 occurs, suggesting a contributing role for these…

• JA
  John A. Hartford Foundation
• AH
  American Health Assistance Foundation
• FF
  Foundation Fighting Blindness
• HF
  Hartford Foundation for Public Giving
• RM
  Ronald McDonald House Charities
• IR
  International Retinal Research Foundation
• KK
  Karl Kirchgessner Foundation
• RT
  Research to Prevent Blindness
• MV
  Macula Vision Research Foundation
• DK
  Deutsches Krebsforschungszentrum
• EM
  E. Matilda Ziegler Foundation for the Blind
• NI
  National Institutes of Health

  Awards: P30EY014800, M01-RR00064, GM62134
• NI
  National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders