Gut flora connects obesity with pathological angiogenesis in the eye

Neovascular age‐related macular degeneration (nvAMD) can cause severe vision loss among the elderly. Genetic risk factors for AMD include several variants related to the immune system and lipid metabolism. Obesity is a well‐known predisposing factor for nvAMD but how this metabolic disorder modulates angiogenesis in the posterior eye segment was largely unknown. In this issue of EMBO Molecular Medicine, Andriessen et al () show that high‐fat diet‐induced obesity causes dysbiosis in the gut that drives retinal inflammation and pathological angiogenesis in a mouse model of laser‐induced choroidal neovascularization (CNV). Obesity predisposes the elderly to neovascular age‐related macular degeneration. Andriessen et al () show now in a mouse model of choroidal neovascularization that high‐fat diet‐induced obesity causes gut microbiota dysbiosis that drives retinal inflammation and pathological angiogenesis.
Source: EMBO Molecular Medicine - Category: Molecular Biology Authors: Tags: News & Views Source Type: research