Fig. 6. A paradigm of A2E-mediated age-related retina degeneration.

In our study, we showed that photosensitization of A2E (which is a byproduct of the visual cycle) accelerates RPE senescence by increasing DNA damage, especially telomere deprotection and deletion. Photosensitization of A2E changed the gene expression profile in RPE cells and significantly increased the expression of SASP genes through the NF-κB pathway. We conclude that photosensitization of A2E triggers SASP gene expression in RPE cells, which may affect the microenvironment of the retina and surrounding cells, contributing to age-related retina degeneration diseases, such as AMD