Research progress in the role of vascular endothelial growth factor receptor-2 in wet age-related macular degeneration

Abstract:

Wet age-related macular degeneration（wAMD） is one of the leading causes of blindness in elderly people aged >60 years. Vascular endothelial growth factor（VEGF） binds to vascular endothelial growth factor receptor（VEGFR） in eyes，which plays a criti－cal role in the pathological process of choroidal neovascularization（CNV） and wAMD. At present，anti-VEGF treatment is the first-line treatment of wAMD，but this method cannot maintain drug concentration for a long time and requires frequent intraocular drug injection. Some patients do not have an improvement in visual acuity after repeated anti-VEGF treatment or visual acuity cannot be maintained at a stable level after improvement. With in-depth basic and clinical research on the pathogenesis of wAMD，it has been found that vascular endothelial growth factor receptor-2（VEGFR-2） is closely associated with the development and progression of this disease. This article briefly reviews the molecular structure and pathophysiological function of VEGFR-2 and its role in the develop－ment and progression of AMD，as well as related research advances in preclinical and clinical studies.