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Corneal (Lymph)angiogenesis—From Bedside to Bench and Back: A Tribute to Judah Folkman

2008; Mary Ann Liebert, Inc.; Volume: 6; Issue: 3-4 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1089/lrb.2008.6348

1557-8585

Birgit Regenfuß, Felix Bock, Anand Parthasarathy, Claus Cursiefen,

Corneal Surgery and Treatments

The normal cornea, the transparent “windscreen” of the eye, is devoid of both blood and lymphatic vessels. Nevertheless, both hem- and lymphangiogenesis can occur in response to severe corneal inflammation and can lead to blindness. Judah Folkman and co-workers exceedingly used the normally avascular cornea as the in vivo model system to study the mechanisms of angiogenesis and to test activators and inhibitors of angiogenesis in the last 3 decades. Recently, the cornea also became a successful model to study especially inflammatory lymphangiogenesis. As the last step in the circle from bedside to bench and back, we now are seeing the first (usually off-label) use of specific novel angiogenesis inhibitors in the diseased and pathologically vascularized human cornea to treat sight-threatening corneal angiogenesis and to promote graft survival after corneal transplantation by inhibiting lymphangiogenesis.