Key molecular pathways affected by glaucoma pathology: is predictive diagnosis possible?

Prediction and prevention of glaucoma. Neurodegenerative eye disease glaucoma is the second leading cause of blindness with estimated 67 million patients worldwide. Molecular pathomechanisms of glaucoma demonstrate both a considerable overlap with and remarkable particularities compared to other neurodegenerative disorders e.g. Alzheimer's disease. Identification of pathology-specific biomarker-sets is essential to develop advanced diagnostic approaches and personalised patients' treatment. Subcellular imaging and expression patterns in blood as the reliable platform for early/predictive glaucoma diagnosis. Following key pathways are affected in glaucoma pathology: stress response, apoptosis and DNA-repair, adhesion, blood-brain-barrier-breakdown, tissue remodelling, transcription regulation, multidrug resistance and energy metabolism.