Grant: CIHR Fellowship

Age-related macular degeneration (AMD) is a common disease of the aging eye, and it is the leading cause of vision loss among people over the age of 50. Although the exact cause of AMD remains elusive, one of the major features of AMD is abnormal blood vessel growth in the eye. The persistent abnormal blood vessel growth eventually damages light-sensing cells, resulting in irreversible vision loss. Although there are drugs that can suppress abnormal blood vessel growth in the eye, their effectiveness diminishes over time, and some AMD patients do not respond to these drugs. Thus, it is critical to find a new therapeutic strategy that could address these issues. We propose that granzyme B (GrB), an enzyme that can digest structural proteins at the back of the eye, is responsible for triggering abnormal blood vessel growth in AMD. We have designed experiments to determine whether inhibiting GrB activity will prevent abnormal blood vessel growth in the eye and thereby the progression of AMD. Our study will provide valuable insight into the underlying cause of AMD and encourage the preclinical development of GrB inhibitors for treatment-resistant AMD.