Immunohistopathologic evaluation of choroidal neovascular membranes following verteporfin-photodynamic therapy.

Purpose: To evaluate the vascularization and proliferative activity in choroidal neovascular membranes due to age-related macular degeneration after verteporfin photodynamic therapy and submacular removal.

Design: Interventional case series.

Methods: In a retrospective review of seven patients who underwent removal of subfoveal classic choroidal neovascular membranes after treatment with photodynamic therapy 3 to 146 days earlier, membranes were stained for CD 34, CD 105, and Ki-67 and correlated with clinical pictures and fluorescein angiography.

Expression of endoglin in choroidal neovascularization.

Endoglin (CD105) is a membrane protein involved in the TGF-beta receptor signalling pathway with predominant expression by proliferating endothelial cells. The aim of this study is to analyze the expression of Endoglin in choroidal neovascularization membranes (CNVM) and to compare it to the overall proliferative status of CNVM. Thirty surgically excised CNVM, secondary to age-related macular degeneration, were investigated using light microscopic immunohistochemistry and confocal immunofluorescence microscopy using verified antibodies directed against the endothelial cell markers Endoglin, von Willebrand factor (vWF) and CD34 and the proliferation marker Ki-67.