Abstract
Age-related macular degeneration (AMD) is a major cause of blindness, arising from progressive damage to the retinal pigment epithelium (RPE) and photoreceptors and in some cases from pathological retinal and choroidal angiogenesis. Despite its strong genetic and environmental components, many of the molecular events driving disease progression remain unresolved.
Marzena Kurzawa-Akanbi, PhD, will present work exploring the role of extracellular vesicles (EVs) in AMD using patient-specific induced pluripotent stem cell-derived RPE carrying the high-risk Y402H complement factor H polymorphism. By combining iPSC disease modelling with multi-omics analysis, her research examines how EV secretion and cargo may reflect and potentially contribute to pathological changes in the retina.
AMD-derived iPSC-RPE cells showed enhanced and polarised EV release, with vesicles enriched in RNA, protein and lipid signatures linked to oxidative stress, cytoskeletal dysfunction, angiogenesis and drusen-associated processes. Importantly, EVs from diseased cells were able to induce structural and molecular abnormalities in control RPE cells. Parallel analysis of plasma EV-enriched samples from AMD patients revealed related alterations in proteins and lipids associated with oxidative stress, immune dysregulation and disturbed lipid metabolism.
Taken together, the results point to extracellular vesicles as both potential mediators of disease progression in the outer retina and carriers of systemic molecular signatures of AMD. This work provides new mechanistic insight into disease biology and highlights possible directions for biomarker development and precision medicine.
Biography
Marzena Kurzawa-Akanbi, PhD, is a Lecturer in Regenerative Medicine and Principal Investigator at the Biosciences Institute, Newcastle University. She obtained her Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in Biotechnology and Molecular Biology from the University of Warsaw and completed her PhD in Medical Genetics at Newcastle University in 2011.
During more than 12 years as a Research Associate and Senior Research Associate, supported in part by the Michael J. Fox Foundation, she developed an independent research focus on extracellular vesicles in neurodegenerative disease. Working in Prof. Majlinda Lako’s laboratory, she gained expertise in induced pluripotent stem cell disease modelling and applied these approaches to investigate extracellular vesicle-mediated mechanisms in age-related macular degeneration.
Appointed Lecturer in 2024, Kurzawa-Akanbi. PhD, now leads research examining the roles of extracellular vesicles in neurological and ocular diseases, their potential as biomarkers and bioengineering strategies to improve their detection. She also co-founded a Newcastle University spin-out company established to translate liquid-biopsy diagnostic approaches for Parkinson’s disease and dementia, developing experience in commercial translation and academic–industry collaboration.
