Antivascular endothelial growth factor agents for neovascular age-related macular degeneration

Age-related macular degeneration (amd) is the leading cause of severe visual loss and blindness over the age of 50 in developed countries. vascular endothelial growth factor (vegf) is considered as a critical molecule in the pathogenesis of choroidal neovascularization (cnv),which characterizes the neovascular amd. anti-vegf agents are considered the most promising way of effectively inhibition of the neovascular amd process. vegf is a heparin-binding glycoprotein with potent angiogenic,mitogenic and vascular permeability-enhancing activities specific for endothelial cells. two anti-vegf agents have been approved by the us food and drug administration (fda) for the treatment of neovascular amd. pegaptanib sodium,which is an aptamer and ranibizumab,which is a monoclonal antibody fragment. another humanized monoclonal antibody is currently off-label used,bevacizumab. this paper aims to discuss in details the effectiveness,the efficacy and safety of these three anti-vegf agents. new anti-vegf compounds which are recently investigated for their clinical usage (vegf-trap,small interfering rna) are also discussed for their promising outcomes. © 2012 ilias zampros et al.