BMP-7: Therapeutic target for ocular fibrotic disorders

Scarring of cornea, glaucoma, after-cataract and also proliferative vitreoretinopathy(PVR) related tractional retina detachment, age related macular degeneration and diabetic retinopathy etc., which are the major and seriously impair vision diseases in eyes, with various appearance and different therapy method, but maybe they have the similar pathogenesis—fibrosis, and all the above ocular diseases can be regarded as fibrotic disorders. Thus inhibition of the fibrotic process may provide a potentially novel therapeutic approach to the treatment of these ocular diseases mentioned above. Now numerous studies have proved that BMP-7 significantly reversed renal, hepatic, pulmonary fibrosis, including inhibition of Transforming growth factor-β (TGF-β) production, suppression of epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition (EMT), and repair of severely damaged epithelial cells. So it is reasonable to refer that BMP-7 may have the same preventive effect in these ocular fibrotic disorders. A potential clinical therapy can be developed by using the anti-fibrosis effect of BMP-7.