Grant: Project Grant

Age-related macular degeneration (AMD) is a chronic, progressive degenerative disease affecting the retina that causes central vision loss. It is one of the global leading causes of irreversible blindness, and over 1.5 million Canadians suffer from this condition. Dry AMD is the most prevalent form of this disease and currently there are only two FDA-approved drugs to treat this condition, and these only recently approved. However, the clinical trial data for these drugs indicated that both led to incomplete disease progression reduction and adverse effects were noted with both drugs. There is clearly a need for investigating alternative drugs. One highly promising new drug is Proteoglycan 4 (PRG4). Dry AMD is thought to be caused by damage to retinal cells caused by the action of the body's inflammatory cells. PRG4 has been shown to block the inflammatory response of these cells, and our preliminary data strongly suggests that local sustained delivery of PRG4 may be beneficial in treating dry AMD. In this research project we will determine the dosing requirements of PRG4 that effectively slows or halts dry AMD progression in a rat model of this disease. Given that the drug would need to be delivered to the back of the eye and current administration methods for this type of delivery involve repeated injections into the vitreous humor, we will also develop an implantable PRG4 delivery system that provides multi-month local delivery of PRG4 within the optimal dosing range. These studies will provide an understanding of the role a promising new drug has in treating this difficult to treat condition as well as the generation of a new drug delivery platform that may be useful in treating other ocular diseases.