Research in mice raises question about macular degeneration drugs

A drug used to choke new blood vessel growth in the eye disease macular degeneration may damage cells crucial to vision, if research done in mice carries over to humans, Harvard researchers report in the online journal PLoS One.

A team from the Schepens Eye Research Institute and Harvard Medical School studied what happened when levels of vascular endothelial growth factor, or VEGF, were tamped down in they eyes of adult mice. Drugs that block VEGF reduce the excess blood vessel growth and leakage that characterize macular degeneration. The researchers also found that lowering VEGF affected cells not involved in blood vessel growth but in visual function.

“The take-home message of this study is that physicians should be vigilant in monitoring patients undergoing anti-VEGF treatments for any possible signs of these side effects,” senior author Dr. Patricia D’Amore said in a statement. “Drugs such as Lucentis are very good at reducing the edema (fluids) and eliminating the abnormal blood vessels that characterize wet macular degeneration, but our results suggest that there could be unanticipated side effects.”