Table 2.
Exemplary cytokines and mediators in age-related macular degeneration
| Cytokines or mediators | Disease form | Experimental model | Inference | References |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| VEGF, PDGF, IL-6, IL-8, IL-10, TNF-α, ICAM-1, VCAM-1, IP-10, and MCP-1 | Dry and wet | Aqueous humor samples from patients | Elevated in AMD | Li et al., 2022 |
| TGF-β | Wet | Retinal microglia isolated from Cx3cr1CreER, Tgfbr2fl/fl mice | regulates AMD and neovascularization | Ma et al., 2019 |
| Oxidative stress | Dry | VMD2-Cre;Sod2fl/fl Balb/cJ mice | RPE and photoreceptor damage | Brown et al., 2019 |
| IL-1 | Dry | Primary human RPE cells and ARPE-19 cells | Inflammasome activation & pyroptosis | Brandstetter et al., 2016 |
| IL-6 | Wet | Murine brain-derived capillary endothelial cell line (b-End3) and RAW264.7 cells | IL-6 receptor-mediated activation of STAT3 inflammatory pathway and CNV | Izumi-Nagai et al., 2007 |
| Laser-induced CNV in IL-6-deficient mice | ||||
| IL-4, IL-10 and IL-13 | Wet | RAW264.7 cell line, HDMVECs and human PBMCs IL10r2–/–, Stat3fl/fl; LysMCre, LysMCre, Ikkβfl/fl mice | IL-10 activates STAT3 signalling but not IL-4 or IL-13, leading to activation of macrophages and vascular proliferation | Nakamura et al., 2015 |
| IFN-β | Wet | Ifnar1–/–, laser-treated Cx3cr1(Cre) (ER):Ifnar1fl/fl mice | Ifnar signalling protect retinal immune homeostasis. | Luckoff et al., 2016 |
| TNF-α | Dry and wet | human fetal RPE cells, ARPE-19, and RPE cells | decreases BMP4 expression in CNV | Xu et al., 2011 |
| CRP and CFH | Wet | Donated human eyes | complement activation and tissue damage | Bhutto et al., 2011 |
BMP4: Bone morphogenetic protein 4; CFH: complement factor H; CNV: choroidal neovascularization; CRP: C-reactive protein; ET1: endothelin 1; ICAM1: intra-cellular adhesion molecule 1; Ifnar: interferon alpha beta receptor; IFN-β: interferon beta; IP-10: inducible protein-10; MCP-1: monocyte chemoattractant protein-1; PDGF: platelet derived growth factor; STAT3: signal transducer and activator of transcription 3; TGF-β: transforming growth factor beta; TNF-α: tumor necrosis factor alpha; VCAM1: vascular cell adhesion molecule 1; VEGF: vascular endothelial growth factor.