MicrobeWorld

A team of researchers, including a scientist from the Viral Immunology Center at Georgia State University, have found that a type of herpesvirus infection of the eye is associated with neovascular age-related macular degeneration (AMD), a disease that causes blindness in the elderly.

The scientists found that human cytomegalovirus, a type of herpesvirus, causes the production of vascular endothelial growth factor, or VEGF, a signal protein that regulates the formation of new blood vessels.

With the formation of new blood vessels, retinal tissue destruction occurs, leading to the development of "wet" AMD and eventually, vision loss and blindness. The results were published in PLoS Pathogens, a journal of the Public Library of Science.

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