Metabolomics in Retinal Diseases: An Update

SIMPLE SUMMARY: Visual loss and blindness caused by retinal disease has a significant negative effect on the quality of life of many adults and children, and as a result has become a global public health concern. In the early stage, the majority of retinal diseases have no obvious symptoms and, during disease progression, current therapeutic options, such as surgery, laser photocoagulation, and anti-VEGF agents, all have significant limitations. Furthermore, the pathophysiological mechanisms underlying retinal disease have not been fully delineated. These issues highlight the importance of developing more effective screening strategies and/or diagnostic biomarkers to improve retinal disease outcomes. Metabolomics are a promising tool for discovering various biomarkers that improve understanding of the pathogenesis of retinal disease. Here, we will review the impact of metabolomics in addressing the above challenges. ABSTRACT: Retinal diseases are a leading cause of visual loss and blindness, affecting a significant proportion of the population worldwide and having a detrimental impact on quality of life, with consequent economic burden. The retina is highly metabolically active, and a number of retinal diseases are associated with metabolic dysfunction. To better understand the pathogenesis underlying such retinopathies, new technology has been developed to elucidate the mechanism behind retinal diseases. Metabolomics is a relatively new “omics” technology, which has developed subsequent to genomics, transcriptomics, and proteomics. This new technology can provide qualitative and quantitative information about low-molecular-weight metabolites (M.W. < 1500 Da) in a given biological system, which shed light on the physiological or pathological state of a cell or tissue sample at a particular time point. In this article we provide an extensive review of the application of metabolomics to retinal diseases, with focus on age-related macular degeneration (AMD), diabetic retinopathy (DR), retinopathy of prematurity (ROP), glaucoma, and retinitis pigmentosa (RP).