Review Article Therapeutic Interventions against Inflammatory and Angiogenic Mediators in Proliferative Diabetic Retinopathy

Copyright © 2012 Daniel Gologorsky et al. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. The global prevalence of diabetes is estimated to be 336 million people, with diabetic complications contributing to significant worldwide morbidity and mortality. Diabetic retinopathy results from cumulative microvascular damage to the retina and inflammation is recognized as a critical driver of this disease process. This paper outlines the pathophysiology leading to proliferative diabetic retinopathy and highlights many of the inflammatory, angiogenic, and cytokine mediators implicated in the development and progression of this disease. We focus a detailed discussion on the current targeted therapeutic interventions used to treat diabetic retinopathy. 1