Role of DNA damage and repair in chronic eye diseases

Vision is essential for everyday activities, yet the most common eye diseases — cataracts, diabetic retinopathy (DR), age-related macular degeneration (AMD), and glaucoma — lead to vision loss with age. Cataract surgery is one of the most frequently performed operations and results are usually excellent in the absence of accompanying eye pathology. However, patients with DR, AMD, and glaucoma often develop significant visual impairments. The pathogenesis of these multifactorial diseases often involves genetic and hereditary components, with recent data confirming the role of DNA damage and repair as important pathogenic factors. In this review, we describe in detail the main mechanisms of DNA damage and repair, including base excision repair, nucleotide excision repair, double-strand break repair, and discuss their role in the development of DR, AMD, and glaucoma.