Department of Ophthalmology, 2nd Hospital of Jilin University, Changchun, China.
Chem Biol Drug Des. 2020 May;95(5):485-492. doi: 10.1111/cbdd.13529. Epub 2020 Feb 16.
Corneal neovascularization (CNV), a pathological process of angiogenesis, can lead to serious consequences in the cornea. CNV is generally proved to associate with inflammation in the cornea closely, which is mainly elicited by the disruption of equilibrium between angiogenic and antiangiogenic factors. Angiogenic factors including vascular endothelial growth factors (VEGFs), basic fibroblast growth factors (bFGFs), and matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs) are vital factors in the formation of CNV. Especially VEGFs are convinced to be the core angiogenic factors in CNV, and MMPs are proved to exert dual effects on the process. Strikingly, matrix metalloproteinase 2 (MMP-2) and matrix metalloproteinase 9 (MMP-9) are determined to play key roles in the formation of CNV, while the mechanism is still vague. In this review, the latest researches are reviewed to discuss the role of MMP-2 and MMP-9 in CNV, respectively, and some inhibitors of them are presented. We hope to provide a new direction of drug research for CNV.
角膜新生血管（CNV）是一种血管生成的病理过程，可导致角膜严重后果。CNV 通常与角膜炎症密切相关，这主要是由血管生成和抗血管生成因子之间的平衡被打破引起的。血管生成因子包括血管内皮生长因子（VEGFs）、碱性成纤维细胞生长因子（bFGFs）和基质金属蛋白酶（MMPs），它们是 CNV 形成的重要因素。特别是 VEGFs 被认为是 CNV 中的核心血管生成因子，而 MMPs 被证明对该过程具有双重作用。值得注意的是，基质金属蛋白酶 2（MMP-2）和基质金属蛋白酶 9（MMP-9）被确定在 CNV 的形成中发挥关键作用，但其机制尚不清楚。在这篇综述中，我们回顾了最新的研究，分别讨论了 MMP-2 和 MMP-9 在 CNV 中的作用，并介绍了它们的一些抑制剂。我们希望为 CNV 的药物研究提供一个新的方向。
