1. Detection of aqueous VEGF concentrations before and after intravitreal injection of anti-VEGF antibody using low-volume sampling paper-based ELISA.
- Author
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Hsu MY, Hung YC, Hwang DK, Lin SC, Lin KH, Wang CY, Choi HY, Wang YP, and Cheng CM
- Subjects
- Aged, Aged, 80 and over, Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay methods, Female, Humans, Male, Paper, Bevacizumab administration & dosage, Eye metabolism, Macular Degeneration drug therapy, Macular Degeneration metabolism, Ranibizumab administration & dosage, Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor A metabolism
- Abstract
Intraocular vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) levels play an important role in the pathogenesis of blindness-related diseases, such as age-related macular degeneration (AMD). Here, we aimed to develop a paper-based enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (P-ELISA) to analyze the suppression of aqueous VEGF concentrations following intravitreal injection (IVI) of anti-VEGF antibody (bevacizumab or ranibizumab). A total of 25 eyes with wet AMD, one with myopic neovascularization, and one with polypoidal choroidal vasculopathy were enrolled in this study. The limit of detection using P-ELISA was 0.03 pg/mL. Forty-six consecutive samples of aqueous humor were acquired. From all samples, 66.67% (10/15) achieved complete VEGF suppression (below the detection limit) within 5 weeks of receiving IVI of anti-VEGF antibody. Only 13.33% of samples (2/15) achieved complete VEGF suppression 5 weeks after receiving treatment. In some patients, elevated VEGF was still detected 5 weeks after receipt of anti-VEGF antibody, and all samples (10/10) were found to have elevated VEGF levels 49 days after treatment. Thus, we suggest that monthly IVI of anti-VEGF antibody may be required to ensure durable VEGF inhibition. Ultrasensitive P-ELISA can detect elevated VEGF at an earlier time point and may facilitate decision-making regarding appropriate treatment strategies., Competing Interests: M.-Y.H., K.H.L., and C.M.C. are inventors of a patent (patent no.: TW 201428105) owned by National Tsing Hua University based on the work reported in this paper. M.-Y.H. and C.M.C. have a patent pending in the USA based on the work reported in this paper (patent no:US20140315224 A1). Y.-C.H., D.-K.H., S.-C.L., K.-H.L., C.-Y.W., Y.-P.W. and H.-Y.C. have no potential conflicts of interest to declare.
- Published
- 2016
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