TREATMENT OF OCULAR NEOVASCULARIZATION AND RELATED DISEASES

摘要

Tubedown-1 (tbdn-1), a protein associated with acetyltransferase activity has been characterized and its cDNA isolated. Tbdn-1 regulates endothelial differentiation through protein acetylation, DNA-binding or by interacting with and/or acetylating other protein targets important for endothelial differentiation. In normal adult eyes, tbdn-1 is expressed highly in the corneal endothelium proper and in the vascular endothelium of the limbus and retina. Tbdn-1 is absent or downregulated in the vascular endothelia of diseased and injured eyes, including eyes from patients with proliferative retinopathies involving neovascularization. Inhibition of tbdn-1 expression in endothelial cells in vitro indicates tbdn-1 acts as an inhibitor of angiogenesis. Thus, high levels of tbdn-1 expression present in normal ocular endothelial cells is associated with suppression of abnormal neovascularization in the eye demonstrating the therapeutic usefulness of tbdn-1 as a regulator of retinal angiogenesis.