Ophthalmology Perspective on The Theory of Amyloid Beta Toxicity: Implications on Future Studies

Background: The debate about the theory of amyloid beta (Aβ) toxicity grew after the recent approval of the Alzheimer's drug Aducanumab. This was especially true after one of the first articles to bring up this theory was recently criticized for being questionable. Several studies in the field of ophthalmology also used the same theory of Aβ toxicity. Methods: We searched PubMed for ophthalmology-related articles on until January 2024, mentioning amyloid beta to study the consequences of such data concerns and questioned the pathogenic role for Aβ. We will examine the breadth of Aβ-related ophthalmology articles, with an emphasis on those that address Aβ toxicity theory. Results: There was a total of 451 articles in the field of ophthalmology that talked about Aβ. Before 2007, the number of articles did not exceed 10 per year. Since 2007, the number of articles published each year has gone up. In 2007, 14 articles were published, by 2021, 38 articles were published each year before decreasing to 24 articles by 2023. The 2006 article by Lesne et al. was cited 1216times in PubMed. When both searches were put together, a total of seven ophthalmology-related articles that cited Lesne et al's article were found, which we discussed in this review article. Conclusion: Most articles on ophthalmology saw amyloid beta as a diagnostic biomarker, but only a few findings demonstrated that it could be toxic. Most of the time, Aβ was talked about in relation to the retina and its age-related disease, age-related macular degeneration.