Oxidative Stress-Responsive Small Extracellular Vesicles and MicroRNAs in Age-related Macular Degeneration: Biomarkers and Therapeutic Tools

Age-related macular degeneration (AMD) is the main cause of blurred vision, and oxidative stress is a leading risk factor for AMD pathology. Small extracellular vesicles (EVs) are 50-90 nm membrane microvesicles (MVs) released by several cell types in a controlled fashion and they transfer from cell to cell to mediate disease progression. EVs encapsulate and transfer microRNAs (miRNA) to recipient cells. MiRNAs are small non-coding RNA molecules that inhibit expression and function of targeted mRNAs through miRNA/mRNA interactions in the conserved 3'UTR regions, and in this way they can modulate a variety of physiological and pathological processes. Dysregulation of EVs and their miRNAs cargo from retinal cells is believed to be correlated to a loss of cellular homeostasis and AMD pathology. This review investigates the association between oxidative stress, sEVs, miRNAs, and AMD pathogenesis, and the potential for discovering novel treatment targets for AMD.