Bay Biosciences provides high quality, clinical grade, fresh frozen sera (serum), plasma and peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) biofluid samples from patients diagnosed with Age-related Macular Degeneration (AMD).
The sera (serum), plasma and PBMC biofluid specimens are processed from age-related macular degeneration (AMD) patient’s peripheral whole-blood using customized collection and processing protocols. The age-related macular degeneration (AMD) matched biofluid samples are collected from unique patients diagnosed with age-related macular degeneration (AMD) and are provided to a valued pharmaceutical customer for research, diagnostics, discovery and drug development.
Detailed clinical data, patient’s history, symptoms, complete blood count (CBC), serology, MRI findings, histopathology information, elevated biomarker levels, genetic and metabolic information associated with age-related macular degeneration (AMD) specimens is provided to a valued customer for research, development and drug discovery.
The age-related macular degeneration (AMD) cancer sera (serum), plasma and peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) biofluids are processed from patients peripheral whole-blood using customized collection and processing protocols.
Age-related Macular degeneration (AMD) Overview
Age-related macular degeneration (AMD) is a leading cause of vision loss in the U.S. It destroys the macula, the part of the eye that provides sharp, central vision needed for seeing objects clearly. The prevalence of AMD, which affects one in 14 Americans over age 40 and more than 30 percent of seniors over age 75. According to statistics, one-third of males and one-quarter of females over 75 have some form of AMD Prevalence estimates are on late AMD, involving neovascular AMD and geographic atrophy.
It happens when the small central portion of the retina, called the macula, wears down. The retina is the light-sensing nerve tissue at the back of the eye. The exact relationship between degenerative macular disease and drusen is not clear. However, having large drusen is a sign of AMD. Age-related macular degeneration (AMD) is an eye disease that may get worse over time. It’s the leading cause of severe, permanent vision loss.
AMD is very common. It is a leading cause of vision loss in Americans 60 years of age and older. With AMD patients lose the central vision. They are unable to see fine details, whether they are looking at something closely or far. But the peripheral (side) vision will still usually be normal. For example, imagine you are looking at a clock with hands. Patients with AMD, may be able to see the clock’s numbers but not the hands of the clock.
Advanced age-related macular degeneration is a leading cause of irreversible blindness and visual impairment in the world. Age-related macular degeneration is an irreversible destruction of the macula, which leads to loss of the sharp, fine-detail, “straight ahead” vision required for activities like reading, driving, recognizing faces, and seeing the world in color.
Types of Age-related Macular degeneration (AMD)
There two types of age-related macular degeneration. Most patients with macular degeneration have the dry form, but the dry form can lead to the wet form. There are only around 10% of the patients with macular degeneration get the wet form.
Following are the are two main types of age-related macular degeneration:
- AMD Dry form: Dry form of AMD is very common, about 80% (8 out of 10) of people who have AMD have the dry form type. Patients with the dry form of AMD may have yellow deposits, called drusen, in their macula. A few small drusen may not cause changes in the vision. But as they get bigger and more numerous, they might dim or distort the vision, especially when you read. As the condition gets worse, the light-sensitive cells in the macula get thinner and eventually die. In the atrophic form, patients may have blind spots in the center of your vision. As that gets worse, AMD patient might lose central vision.
- AMD Wet form: This form of AMD is less common but much more serious. Wet AMD is when blood vessels grow from underneath the macula. These blood vessels leak blood and fluid into the retina. The vision is distorted so that straight lines look wavy. You may also have blind spots and loss of central vision. These blood vessels and their bleeding eventually form a scar, leading to permanent loss of central vision.
Signs and symptoms of Age-related Macular degeneration (AMD)
Early signs of vision loss from AMD include shadowy areas in your central vision or unusually fuzzy or distorted vision. Some patients may notice wavy or distorted words when reading. Additional symptoms include difficulty seeing details in poor lighting conditions and glare sensitivity. Many patients do not notice the symptoms of AMD if they are present in only one eye or more pronounced in one eye than the other. When viewing with both eyes simultaneously the symptoms of blur and distortion may not be noticed.
Macular degeneration is a progressive disease, which means that it will get worse over time. Initially patients may not notice vision problems in the early stages of the disease and are also less likely to notice vision changes when they affect both eyes at the same time.
Dry Macular Degeneration
Following are the common signs and symptoms of Dry Macular Degeneration:
- A reduction in central vision
- A distortion of straight lines in your field of vision
- Need for brighter lighting
- Difficulty adapting to low lights
- Not being able to see clearly (Blurriness)
- Trouble recognizing faces
- Retinal damage
Wet Macular Degeneration
Some symptoms of wet macular degeneration are similar those of dry macular degeneration, such as visual distortions and reduced central vision. Wet macular degeneration progresses more quickly than dry macular degeneration.
Following are the common signs and symptoms of Wet Macular Degeneration:
- Blurry spot in your field of vision
- Dark spot in the center of your vision due to blood vessels bleeding or leaking fluid
- Hazy vision
- Rapidly worsening symptoms
Causes of Age-related Macular degeneration (AMD)
Though macular degeneration is associated with aging, research suggests there also may be a genetic component to the disease. Researchers have noted a strong association between development of AMD and presence of a variant gene. Some researchers believe that over-exposure to sunlight also may be a contributing factor in development of macular degeneration, however this theory has not been proven conclusively.
Following are the risk factors for developing macular degeneration:
The American Academy of Ophthalmology (AAO) notes that findings regarding AMD and risk factors have been contradictory, depending on the study. The only risk factors consistently found in studies to be associated with AMD are aging and smoking.
Diagnosis of Age-related Macular degeneration (AMD)
A routine eye exam can spot age-related macular degeneration. One of the most common early signs is drusen, which are tiny yellow spots under the retina, or pigment clumping. The doctor can see these when they examine the eyes. Your doctor may also ask you to look at an Amsler grid, a pattern of straight lines that resembles a checkerboard. Some of the straight lines may appear wavy to you, or you may notice that some of the lines are missing, these can be signs of macular degeneration.
If your doctor finds age-related macular degeneration, you may have a procedure called angiography or one called OCT. In angiography, your doctor injects dye into a vein in your arm. They take photographs as the dye flows through the blood vessels in the retina. If there are new vessels or vessels leaking fluid or blood in the macula, the photos will show their exact location and type. OCT is able to see fluid or blood underneath your retina without dye.
Treatment of Age-related Macular degeneration (AMD)
Treatment for wet macular degeneration
There is no treatment or cure for advanced dry macular degeneration. But a specific high-dose formula of antioxidant vitamins and zinc may delay or prevent intermediate macular degeneration from progressing to the advanced stage. If you have wet macular degeneration, you’ll benefit from working with a low-vision rehabilitation specialist. The specialist can teach you how to adjust to and cope with vision loss. Your doctor may also inject a medication directly into your eye to stop the growth of new blood vessels. These medications are known as anti-vascular endothelial growth factor (anti-VEGF) drugs. They include ranibizumab (Lucentis) and aflibercept (Eylea). It can take several weeks of treatment before you notice a difference.
Another treatment option is photodynamic therapy. Your doctor injects a medication into a vein in one of your arms and then uses a special laser to close up leaking blood vessels. This type of therapy can improve your vision, but you may need multiple treatments.
Photocoagulation is another option. This involves the use of high-energy laser beams to destroy abnormal blood vessels. The purpose of this therapy is to help stop bleeding and reduce further damage to your macula. However, the laser can cause scarring and leave a blind spot on your eye. Even if photocoagulation is successful, abnormal blood vessels can regrow, and you’ll have to return for another treatment.
Treatment for dry macular degeneration
If you have dry macular degeneration, your doctor may also suggest that you work with a low-vision rehabilitation specialist. In addition, they may recommend surgery to help improve your vision. During the surgery, they’ll implant a telescopic lens in your eye to replace the natural lens. This magnifies your field of vision.
Bay Biosciences is a global leader in providing researchers with high quality, clinical grade, fully characterized human tissue samples, bio-specimens and human bio-fluid collections from cancer (tumor) tissue, cancer serum, cancer plasma cancer PBMC and human tissue samples from most other therapeutic areas and diseases.
Bay Biosciences maintains and manages it’s own bio-repository, human tissue bank (biobank) consisting of thousands of diseased samples (specimens) and from normal healthy donors available in all formats and types. Our biobank procures and stores fully consented, deidentified and institutional review boards (IRB) approved human tissue samples and matched controls.
All our human human tissue collections, human specimens and human bio-fluids are provided with detailed samples associated patient’s clinical data. This critical patient’s clinical data includes information relating to their past and current disease, treatment history, lifestyle choices, biomarkers and genetic information. Patient’s data is extremely valuable for researchers and is used to help identify new effective treatments (drug discovery & development) in oncology, other therapeutic areas and diseases. This clinical information is critical to demonstrate their impact, monitor the safety of medicines, testing & diagnostics, and generate new knowledge about the causes of disease and illness.
Bay Biosciences banks wide variety of human tissue samples and biological samples including cryogenically preserved -80°C, fresh, fresh frozen tissue samples, tumor tissue samples, FFPE’s, tissue slides, with matching human bio-fluids, whole blood and blood derived products such as serum, plasma and PBMC’s.
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Bay Biosciences provides human tissue samples (human specimens) from diseased and normal healthy donors; including peripheral whole-blood, amniotic fluid, bronchoalveolar lavage fluid (BAL), sputum, pleural effusion, cerebrospinal fluid (CSF), serum (sera), plasma, peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC’s), saliva, Buffy coat, urine, stool samples, aqueous humor, vitreous humor, kidney stones, renal calculi, nephrolithiasis, urolithiasis and other bodily fluids from most diseases including cancer. We can also procure most human bio-specimens and can do special collections and requests of human samples that are difficult to find. All our human tissue samples are procured through IRB approved clinical protocols and procedures.
In addition to the standard processing protocols Bay Biosciences can also provide human plasma, serum, PBMC bio-fluid samples using custom processing protocols, you can buy donor specific sample collections in higher volumes and specified sample aliquoting from us. Bay Biosciences also provides human samples from normal healthy donors, volunteers, for controls and clinical research, contact us Now.
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