Lipid Signaling in the Retina: A Druggable Target?

Retina tissue has comparably high levels of lipids and a number of these lipids are highly relevant to inter- and intracellular signaling. Based on both clinical findings and evidence from animal models of retinal diseases, lipids have been implicated in the pathogenesis of age-related macular degeneration (AMD) and diabetic retinopathy (DR). Of particular interest are studies that show a direct involvement of diets modifying lipid intake and lipid metabolism with retina pathology. For AMD, a disease with age as a predisposing factor and a major cause of vision loss for patients older than 65, lipid pathology was detected early on as a characteristic of the disease, specifically abnormal amounts and types of lipids were found in macular deposits and implicated in structural changes leading to pathology