Abstract
Presentation Description :
In this presentation, I will indicate how a basic-clinical collaboration yielded a biologically interesting and potentially clinically actionable finding in ocular oncology. We found that hard-to-treat retinoblastoma vitreous seeds in a rabbit model produce VEGF-A, and that VEGF-A levels in the aqueous humor reflect the burden of live seeds present. Changes in aqueous VEGF-A levels over the intravitreal chemotherapy course correlated with changes in vitreous seeds in rabbit models and human patients, serving as a biomarker of treatment response. This finding may allow improved prognostication and assessment of treatment response in this pediatric ocular cancer.
This abstract was presented at the 2024 ARVO Annual Meeting, held in Seattle, WA, May 5-9, 2024.