Epigenetic Regulation of Intraocular Angiogenesis

摘要

Pathologic angiogenesis is a major feature of several blinding retinal diseases including age-related macular degeneration, proliferative diabetic retinopathy, and retinopathy of prematurity. While much has been learned about the pathogenesis of these disorders, leading to the development of novel therapies including those directed against vascular endothelial growth factor, much remains to be learned about the mechanisms involved so that new therapies can be developed. Epigenetics has only recently been investigated for its role in intraocular angiogenesis. Epigenetics is the study of heritable changes in phenotype or gene expression resulting from mechanisms other than changes in the underlying DNA nucleotide sequence. In this report, the role of epigenetic mechanisms such as histone acetylation, histone methylation, DNA methylation and microRNA expression in suppressing or promoting angiogenesis in various ocular and non-ocular model systems is discussed along with its relevance to intraocular angiogenic diseases.