Age-dependent macular degeneration (AMD) is the commonest cause of blindness in the western industrialised nations. Hereditary changes in the regulation of the immune system influence the risk of contracting AMD. Opthalmologists at the University Clinic in Bonn, working in co-operation with researchers from Göttingen, Regensburg and Great Britain, have now, for the first time, demonstrated that in cases of senile blindness the patient´s immune resistance is hyperactive throughout his entire body, says eurekalert press release.
An Anglo-German research team embracing immunologists from Göttingen University has added a further important aspect to our current knowledge of the processes leading to senile blindness. For the first time, they have been able to show that in the case of patients with AMD their entire immune system is hyperactive. It had not previously been known whether such an immune reaction affecting the entire body played any role in this eye disease.
The investigation was conducted by scientists from Bonn, Göttingen, Regensburg and Oxford under the leadership of Privatdozent Dr. Hendrik Scholl of Bonn University´s Eye Clinic. The results achieved by this research team have now been published in the current edition of the PLoS ONE:
http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0002593
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