Ocular Angiogenesis

The recent intense study of pathogenic ocular angiogenesis-an abnormal growth of blood vessels in the eye responsible for the major blinding diseases throughout the world-has yielded an overwhelming flood of scientific findings, novel insights, and possible future therapeutic approaches. In Ocular Angiogenesis: Diseases, Mechanisms, and Therapeutics, leading academic and pharmaceutical researchers and clinicians from many disciplines synthesize and summarize these developments to present a comprehensive review of what is known about angiogenesis, its role in blinding diseases, and the mechanisms leading to progressive vessel dysfunction. The authors also identify and assess the most promising approaches with potential for commercial exploitation and discuss the challenges encountered in developing therapeutics for ocular neovascular diseases. Highlights include illuminating chapters on gene therapy and novel drug delivery systems and excellent summaries of the newest therapeutic approaches.Comprehensive and multidisciplinary, Ocular Angiogenesis: Diseases, Mechanisms, and Therapeutics offers a novel view of the clinical features of pathological angiogenesis in the eye, the molecular and environmental switches that govern vessel growth, and the tremendous opportunities for and progress made in the development of new therapeutics.

Leading academic and pharmaceutical researchers and clinicians from many disciplines synthesize and summarize current clinical and basic knowledge concerning abnormal growth of blood vessels in the eye, the cause of major neovascular eye diseases. The authors also identify and assess the most promising approaches with potential for commercial exploitation and discuss the challenges encountered in developing therapeutics for ocular neovascular diseases. Highlights include illuminating chapters on gene therapy and novel drug delivery systems and excellent summaries of the newest therapeutic approaches.

Angiogenic Diseases.- Age-Related Macular Degeneration.- Endogenous Angiogenic Inhibitors in Diabetic Retinopathy.- Corneal Angiogenesis.- Polypoidal Choroidal Vasculopathy.- Myopic Choroidal Neovascularization.- Mechanisms of the Formation and Stability of Retinal Blood Vessels.- Neovascular Glaucoma.- Eales' Disease.- Angiogenesis and Ocular Tumorigenesis.- Genetics of Ocular Vascular Disease.- Endogenous Promoters and Inhibitors of Angiogenesis.- Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor and Retinal Diseases.- The Role of Fibroblast Growth Factors in Ocular Angiogenesis.- Control of Neovascularization and Cell Survival in the Eye by PEDF.- Thrombospondin.- Regulation of Ocular Angiogenesis by Matrix Proteases and Tissue Inhibitors of Metalloproteinases.- Integrins in Ocular Angiogenesis.- Ocular Inflammation and Neovascularization.- Therapeutics and Delivery for Angiogenic eye Diseases.- Anti-VEGF Therapies for Diseases of the Retina and Choroid.- Anecortave Acetate.- Gene Therapy for Neovascular Retinopathies.- Noninvasive Delivery of DNA Into the Eye.- Novel Drug Delivery Systems for Posterior Segment Ocular Disease.