Differential effect of sulindac on normal and malignant retinal cells

Age related macular degeneration (AMD) is the leading cause of blindness among the elderly population and oxidative stress induced damage of ocular tissues is thought to play an important role in the etiology of this disease. This current study is aimed at testing pharmacological preconditioning as a possible protective mechanism for retinal cells against oxidative stress induced damage. Since the retinal pigment epithelial (RPE) cells located adjacent to the photoreceptor cells, are believed to be responsible for the initial pathology in AMD we tested our therapy on this cell type. Earlier research conducted with lung cells and in a cardiac model with the nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug (NSAID) sulindac (Moench et al., 2009; Marchetti et al., 2009) indicate that sulindac can protect normal cells from oxidative damage through ischemic preconditioning (IPC) pathways. This led us to test whether sulindac can also protect significant protection against both tert-butyl hydrogen peroxide (TBHP) induced chemical stress and UVB light induced photooxidative damage through a preconditioning mechanism.