Abstract
Purpose: :
Inflammation is known as a key pathogenic mechanism in the development of age-related macular degeneration (AMD). This study evaluated the relationship between serum biomarkers of inflammation and AMD severity.
Methods: :
Serum levels of the soluble receptor for advanced glycation end product (sRAGE), RAGE ligand S100B and high sensitivity C-reactive protein (hsCRP) were assessed in patients with nvAMD in at least one eye (n=93), early AMD (n=64) and age-matched controls (n=81). The serological factors were log transformed for the purposes of analysis. Generalized linear regression was used to investigate the relationship between the serum biomarkers and AMD stage defined according to the AREDS staging system, models were adjusted for age, gender, body mass index, smoking status, presence of hypertension, history of cardiovascular disease and history of diabetes.
Results: :
S100B was significantly associated with AMD stage (p=<0.001).None of the other serum markers were significantly related to AMD in our cohort. Addition of hsCRP or sRAGE did not improve the model fit significantly. S100B was significantly correlated with sRAGE (r=-0.212, p=0.001) but was not significantly correlated with hsCRP (r=0.018, p=0.781).
Conclusions: :
Serum S100B has the potential to be a useful clinical biomarker of AMD as S100B-RAGE interactions have been demonstrated to have a role in inflammation-mediated outer retinal pathology and angiogenesis.
Keywords: age-related macular degeneration • inflammation • clinical (human) or epidemiologic studies: risk factor assessment