Autoimmune biomarkers in age-related macular degeneration: A possible role player in disease development and progression

Abstract

Age-related macular degeneration (AMD) is the leading cause of legal blindness among people over the age of 50. In recent years, a role for inflammation in the pathogenesis of both AMD in general and drusen in particular has been established at the biological, experimental, and genetic level. The purpose of this chapter is to (1) illustrate our rationale for the hypothesis that, in the aforementioned inflammatory context, auto-antibodies (auto-Abs) are biomarkers relevant to ocular disease status in AMD, based on a brief review of the literature; (2) present our preliminary data supporting this hypothesis from our ongoing investigations; and (3) propose a mechanistic framework for the formation of auto-Abs in AMD and their possible role in disease development and progression. Auto-Ab targets have the potential to be important disease biomarkers and may contribute significantly to AMD development and progression. © 2012 Springer Science+Business Media, LLC.