Retinal degeneration
research & testing platform

Age-related Macular Degeneration

Age-related Macular Degeneration (AMD) is an ophthalmologic disorder that causes irreversible partial vision loss or, for the worst cases, blindness.

AMD is the first cause of vision loss after 50 years old ; prevalence is about 25 % for people older than 75. Currently affecting 200 million people worldwide, it is estimated that AMD will reach nearly 400 million people worldwide in 2040.
There are two types of AMD : dry, that results from degeneration of retinal cells and wet (or exudative) that results from abnormal growth of blood vessels in the macula area.

While treatments exist for the exudative form, mainly anti-VEGF antibodies (ranibizumab and bevacizumab), the atrophic form, which affects about 80-90% of individuals with AMD, doesn't have any satisfactory therapeutic options to prevent vision loss (Schmier et al., 2006)

In order to meet patient's expecta-tions, Phenocell offers R&D outsourcing services to screen small molecule librairies and test active compound using an exclusive Dry AMD model based on iPSC technology.

WHY iPSC-derived RPE cells ?

iPSC-derived retinal pigmented epithelial cells display all the key phenotypic and functional charac-teristics of primary human RPE cells. Unlike available cell lines, PCi-RPE display a normal karyotype and answer to several key causes of AMD (oxidative stress, blue light, etc.). Due to their high genomic stability, their availability in almost unlimited quanti-ties and their high level of inter-batch reproducibility, iPSC-derived RPE cells currently represent the most robust and relevant tool for your drug screening campaigns and Hit/Lead validation. 

High-throughput screening services for
dry AMD research & testing

Identify new pharmaceutical active ingredients with our selection of innovative high-throughput bioassays on iPSC-derived retinal pigment epithelial cells.

Take advantage of the characteristics of a primoculture with the benefits of a cell line using iPSC-derived cells: 

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• high genomic stability

• available in unlimited quantities

• unique batch-to-batch reproducibility

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iPSC-derived cells are the most relevant model for HTS studies on human cells !

A unique in vitro dry AMD model
with the characteristics of primoculture​s
and the advantages of cell lines

Phenocell's dry AMD model is based on the use of iPSC-RPE cells from multiple donors:

• Human iPSC-RPE cells differentiated from healthy donors

• Human iPSC-RPE cells differentiated from AMD patients with risk alleles

PCi-RPE cells are fully characterized:

• Typical pigmented and polygonal morphology

• Expression of key markers
  (e.g. MITF, ZO-1, PMEL17)

• High purity

• Outer retinal barrier resistance

Our iPSC-RPE model is available from 6 wp down to 96 wp

Cell stress & degeneration

Phenocell's dry AMD model is based on chronic A2E low concentration treatment combined to blue light irradiation of iPSC-derived RPE cells to ideallly reproduce pathological conditions.

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A2E (N-retinyl-N-retinylidene ethanolamine)

Blue light

Chronic A2E treatment induces:

• Oxidative stress (ROS content)

• Inflammatory cytokine release 

• Complement activation dysregulation

• Drusen-related protein expression

A2E + Blue light induce:

• Cell death and apoptosis

• Exacerbated oxidative stress and inflammation

Get a sample report of Phenocell's
in vitro dry AMD model

Dry AMD-related Bioassays by Phenocell

Find bellow some example of dry AMD related bioassays :

If you do not find your favorite bioassays, do not worry, custom biological tests are available.

Contact us for more information

Management of your R&D project