Prof. R.O. Schlingemann MD PhD

All Publications

Prof. MD PhD R.O. Schlingemann (Ocular angiogenesis and Ocular imaging)

Within the Department of Ophthalmology of the AMC, basic research on diabetic retinopathy, age-related macular degeneration, angiogenesis and fibrosis has been a major research line in the last 14 years. In the last year, our research group has investigated the pathobiological mechanisms underlying the two most important blinding diseases of the Western world: diabetic retinopathy (DR) and age-related macular degeneration (AMD). Blindness in DR and AMD is caused by vascular leakage, angiogenesis and scarring. However, both DR and AMD have a long but poorly understood pre-clinical phase where the basis for final disease development is laid. Therefore our translational research projects have focussed on the cellular and molecular mechanisms involved in both these early stages as in the final blinding processes of vascular leakage, angiogenesis and fibrosis. By a collaborative approach we have studied the following main subjects:

-Cellular and molecular basis of increased microvascular permeability in DR.

-Interactions between endothelial cells, leukocytes and platelets in DR as a cause of capillary loss in DR.

-Role of connective tissue growth factor (CTGF) and its up- and downstream mediators in the early pre-clinical stage of DR.

-The pathogenesis of fibrosis and scarring as the fional outcome of angiogenesis in proliferative DR and exudative AMD.

-Role of complement activation and the proteasome in retinal pigment epithelium in the pathogenesis of the early stages of AMD.

 

These studies have led to several important contributions to the field:

- the discovery that polarized secretion of VEGF by epithelia maintains fenestrated capillaries in the normal eye and other tissues
 

- the discovery that altered vesicular transport via caveolae is an important mechanism of VEGF-induced retinal vascular leakage 

- the discovery that CTGF causes basement membrane thickening in early DR 

- identification of the role of the balance of intra-ocular VEGF and CTGF in the angio-fibrotic switch

Themes: Cardiovascular Diseases, Metabolic Disorders and Neurological and Psychiatric Disorders

 

Faculty
PhD F.D. Verbraak

Postdocs
PhD I. Klaassen

Others
BEng I.M.C. Vogels

• K. Aissa
• N. Bakker
• C.A.M. Bennebroek
• E.K. Bosma
• S. Darma
• O. Engin
• W.E. Hill
• N. Khatib
• A.M.E. Schauwvlieghe
• M. Stehouwer
• M.J.C. Vader

• AMC
• Chengdu Kanghong Biotechnology Co.
• Covance International Holdings B.V.
• European Foundation for the Study of Diabetes
• Europese Unie
• Novartis Pharma BV
• ODAS Stichting
• Oogfonds, voorheen MaculaFonds
• Roche Nederland B.V.
• Stichting AMC Foundation (Vrijgesteld)
• Stichting Amsterdams Universititeitsfonds
• UMC St. Radboud
• UitZicht