Inner blood-retina barrier dysfunction linked to retina cell atrophy
In this episode, Matthew Campbell, Natalie Hudson, and colleagues show that blood vessels of the inner retina are highly dynamic and that loss of inner blood-retina barrier integrity may underlie age-related macular degeneration.
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Citation Information: JCI Insight. 2019;4(15):e130273. https://doi.org/10.1172/jci.insight.130273.
Abstract
Age-related macular degeneration (AMD) is the leading cause of central retinal vision loss worldwide, with an estimated 1 in 10 people over the age of 55 showing early signs of the condition. There are currently no forms of therapy available for the end stage of dry AMD, geographic atrophy (GA). Here, we show that the inner blood-retina barrier (iBRB) is highly dynamic and may play a contributory role in GA development. We have discovered that the gene CLDN5, which encodes claudin-5, a tight junction protein abundantly expressed at the iBRB, is regulated by BMAL1 and the circadian clock. Persistent suppression of claudin-5 expression in mice exposed to a cholesterol-enriched diet induced striking retinal pigment epithelium (RPE) cell atrophy, and persistent targeted suppression of claudin-5 in the macular region of nonhuman primates induced RPE cell atrophy. Moreover, fundus fluorescein angiography in human and nonhuman primate subjects showed increased retinal vascular permeability in the evening compared with the morning. These findings implicate an inner retina–derived component in the early pathophysiological changes observed in AMD, and we suggest that restoring the integrity of the iBRB may represent a novel therapeutic target for the prevention and treatment of GA secondary to dry AMD.
Authors
Natalie Hudson, Lucia Celkova, Alan Hopkins, Chris Greene, Federica Storti, Ema Ozaki, Erin Fahey, Sofia Theodoropoulou, Paul F. Kenna, Marian M. Humphries, Annie M. Curtis, Eleanor Demmons, Akeem Browne, Shervin Liddie, Matthew S. Lawrence, Christian Grimm, Mark T. Cahill, Pete Humphries, Sarah L. Doyle, Matthew Campbell
