Role Of Amyloid Beta-Peptide In The Pathogenesis Of Age-Related Macular Degeneration

Age-related macular degeneration (AMD) is the most common eye disease in elderly patients, which could lead to irreversible vision loss and blindness. Increasing evidence indicates that amyloid beta-peptide (A beta) might be associated with the pathogenesis of AMD. In this review, we would like to summarise the current findings in this field. The literature search was done from 1995 to Feb, 2021 with following keywords, 'Amyloid beta-peptide and age-related macular degeneration', 'Inflammation and age-related macular degeneration', 'Angiogenesis and age-related macular degeneration', 'Actin cytoskeleton and amyloid beta-peptide', 'Mitochondrial dysfunction and amyloid beta-peptide', 'Ribosomal dysregulation and amyloid beta-peptide' using search engines Pubmed, Google Scholar and Web of Science. A beta congregates in subretinal drusen of patients with AMD and participates in the pathogenesis of AMD through enhancing inflammatory activity, inducing mitochondrial dysfunction, altering ribosomal function, regulating the lysosomal pathway, affecting RNA splicing, modulating angiogenesis and modifying cell structure in AMD. The methods targeting A beta are shown to inhibit inflammatory signalling pathway and restore the function of retinal pigment epithelium cells and photoreceptor cells in the subretinal region. Targeting A beta may provide a novel therapeutic strategy for AMD.