Pre-mRNA Interference of VEGF Pathways in Ocular Angiogenesis

描述(由申请人提供)： 安巴蒂博士计划继续他的研究，破坏细胞内新血管形成的途径；这将加强甚至可能超越目前的细胞外阻断疗法。通过使用新的技术来扰乱传递方向以形成新血管的基因信息系统，这一提议有可能推进各种失明疾病的治疗，包括角膜损伤(眼睛的前部)、糖尿病对视网膜的损害和黄斑变性。这可能会改善眼部受伤并需要角膜移植的退伍军人的预后(因为对抗血管形成对于角膜透明度和防止角膜移植排斥反应至关重要)，以及患有糖尿病视网膜病变和黄斑变性的退伍军人的视力改善，这是老年退伍军人失明的主要原因。此外，这种通过靶向细胞内的关键基因事件来对抗血管形成的方法可能对癌症有重大的有益应用。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Dr. Ambati plans to continue his research into disrupting pathways of new blood vessel formation within cells; this will augment and possibly transcend the current therapies of blockade outside the cell. By using novel techniques to disrupt the gene messaging systems which communicate directions to form new blood vessels, this proposal has the potential of advancing therapies for a variety of blinding conditions, including injury to the cornea (the front part of the eye), diabetes damage to the retina, and macular degeneration. This could translate into improved outcomes for veterans who sustain eye injury and require corneal transplantation (as fighting blood vessel formation is essential to corneal transparency and preventing corneal transplant rejection), as well as improved vision for veterans with diabetic retinopathy and macular degeneration, which are the leading cause of blindness among older veterans. Further, this approach of fighting blood vessel formation by targeting key genetic events within the cell could have major beneficial applications to cancer.