Predictive role of coagulation-balance gene polymorphisms in the efficacy of photodynamic therapy with verteporfin for classic choroidal neovascularization secondary to age-related macular degeneration.

Objectives: Age-related macular degeneration (AMD) represents the leading cause of blindness in Western populations. The majority of severe vision loss occurs in the exudative form of AMD, characterized by the development of choroidal neovascularization (CNV) beneath the fovea. Photodynamic therapy with verteporfin (PDT-V) represents one of the most largely employed modality that maybe achieves the subfoveal CNV inactivation in AMD patients.

Factor XIII contrasts the effects of metalloproteinases in human dermal fibroblast cultured cells.

Matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs) are overexpressed in venous leg ulcers, determining a breakdown of the main extracellular matrix (ECM) components owing mainly to collagenase activities, and so playing a crucial role in ulcer pathogenesis. The authors studied the effects of coagulation factor XIII (FXIII), which cross-links collagen and other ECM components, in human fibroblast cultured cells in the presence and in the absence of matrix metalloproteinases from Clostridium histolyticum collagenase. Clostridium collagenase at concentrations of 2.

Prevalence of factor XIII Val34Leu polymorphism in patients affected by spontaneous subconjunctival hemorrhage.

Purpose: To verify the prevalence of Val34Leu polymorphism in factor XIII A-chain gene (FXIII Val34Leu) in patients with spontaneous subconjunctival hemorrhage (SCH).

Design: Nonrandomized case-control study.

Methods: One hundred seven white patients suffering from one or more episodes of idiopathic SCH and 107 healthy subjects were matched for age and gender, and genotyped for FXIII Val34Leu.

Recurrent episodes of spontaneous subconjunctival hemorrhage in patients with factor XIII Val34Leu mutation.

Purpose: To report on the occurrence of frequent episodes of spontaneous subconjunctival hemorrhage (SCH) in patients with the Leu 34 allele of the coagulation factor XIII (FXIII), known to be associated with high hemorrhagic risk.

Design: Observational case series.

Methods: Five young adults who had suffered from recurrent idiopathic SCH not associated with any recognized ocular and systemic hemorrhagic risk factor were investigated.