TY - JOUR
T1 - Ocular biomarkers of Alzheimer’s disease
T2 - The role of anterior eye and potential future directions
AU - Dehghani, Cirous
AU - Frost, Shaun
AU - Jayasena, Rajiv
AU - Masters, Colin L.
AU - Kanagasingam, Yogesan
PY - 2018/7/1
Y1 - 2018/7/1
N2 - Globally, Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is a growing health and economic challenge that has no effective cure. Recent clinical trials indicate that preclinical treatment may be required but a routine screening tool for AD has been elusive. Hence, a simple, yet sensitive biomarker for preclinical AD, when the disease is most likely to be amenable to treatment, is lacking. Due to several features, the eye has been explored for this purpose and, among the ocular tissues, the retina has received the most attention. Currently, major works investigating the potential AD diagnosis by detecting amyloid-β (Aβ) signatures in the retinal tissue are underway, while the anterior eye is more accessible for in vivo imaging and examination. This report provides a concise review of current literature on the anterior eye components, including the crystalline lens, cornea, and aqueous humor, in AD. We also discuss the potential for assessment of the corneal nerve structure and regeneration as well as conjunctival tissue for AD-related alterations. The crystalline lens has received considerable attention, but further research is required to confirm whether Aβ accumulates in the lens and whether it mirrors brain neuropathologic changes, particularly in preclinical AD. The rich corneal neural network and conjunctival vasculature also merit exploration in future studies to shed light on their potential association with AD pathologic changes.
AB - Globally, Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is a growing health and economic challenge that has no effective cure. Recent clinical trials indicate that preclinical treatment may be required but a routine screening tool for AD has been elusive. Hence, a simple, yet sensitive biomarker for preclinical AD, when the disease is most likely to be amenable to treatment, is lacking. Due to several features, the eye has been explored for this purpose and, among the ocular tissues, the retina has received the most attention. Currently, major works investigating the potential AD diagnosis by detecting amyloid-β (Aβ) signatures in the retinal tissue are underway, while the anterior eye is more accessible for in vivo imaging and examination. This report provides a concise review of current literature on the anterior eye components, including the crystalline lens, cornea, and aqueous humor, in AD. We also discuss the potential for assessment of the corneal nerve structure and regeneration as well as conjunctival tissue for AD-related alterations. The crystalline lens has received considerable attention, but further research is required to confirm whether Aβ accumulates in the lens and whether it mirrors brain neuropathologic changes, particularly in preclinical AD. The rich corneal neural network and conjunctival vasculature also merit exploration in future studies to shed light on their potential association with AD pathologic changes.
KW - Alzheimer’s disease
KW - Amyloid-β
KW - Amyloid-β protein precursor
KW - Anterior eye
KW - Biomarker
KW - Cornea
KW - Crystalline lens
KW - Dementia
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85050333884&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - https://www.mendeley.com/catalogue/7d25408d-886b-39a8-b116-618346a2a124/
U2 - 10.1167/iovs.18-24694
DO - 10.1167/iovs.18-24694
M3 - Review article
C2 - 30025102
AN - SCOPUS:85050333884
SN - 0146-0404
VL - 59
SP - 3554
EP - 3563
JO - Investigative Ophthalmology and Visual Science
JF - Investigative Ophthalmology and Visual Science
IS - 8
ER -