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Vasohibin expression identified in CNV membranes of patients with retinal lesions
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A retrospective study found that the antiangiogenic factor vasohibin is expressed in the choroidal neovascular membranes of patients with age-related macular degeneration or polypoidal choroidal vasculopathy.
Ryosuke Wakusawa, MD, and colleagues at Tohoku University Graduate School of Medicine in Miyagi, Japan, reviewed medical records obtained for 11 eyes of 11 patients with AMD and 10 eyes of 10 patients with polypoidal choroidal vasculopathy (PCV) who underwent CNV membrane removal. All removed tissues were immunostained for von Willebrand factor (vWF), VEGF and vasohibin.
In addition, reverse-transcriptase polymerase chain reaction was used to determine the levels of VEGF, VEGF receptor 2 (VEGFR-2) and vasohibin in the CNV membranes of nine AMD patients and nine PCV patients.
Patients were divided into groups based on lesion activity. Group one consisted of four patients with the most active lesions, group two consisted of 13 patients with less active lesions, and group three consisted of four patients with non-active lesions.
Immunohistochemical testing revealed that vasohibin, vWF and VEGF were expressed in the vascular endothelial cells in both CNV membranes and polypoidal vessels.
Reverse-transcriptase polymerase chain reaction revealed a significant relationship between vasohibin and the level of expression of VEGFR-2 (P = .0002), according to the study.
"Eyes with a lower vasohibin-to-VEGF ratio tended to have larger subretinal hemorrhages or vitreous hemorrhages, whereas eyes with higher vasohibin-to-VEGF ratio had subretinal fibrosis-like lesions," the authors said in the August issue of American Journal of Ophthalmology.
They also found a significant correlation between the ratio of vasohibin to VEGF among the three groups (P = .0209).