Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Review
. 2024 Jul 8:4:1408587.
doi: 10.3389/fopht.2024.1408587. eCollection 2024.

The use of rh-NGF in the management of neurotrophic keratopathy

Anna M Roszkowska  1   2 , Rosaria Spinella  3 , Alessandro Calderone  1 , Marianna Sindoni  1 , Bogumił H Wowra  4 , Maciej Kozak  2 , Katarzyna Sajak-Hydzik  2 , Jorge Aliò  5
Affiliations
Review

The use of rh-NGF in the management of neurotrophic keratopathy

Anna M Roszkowska et al. Front Ophthalmol (Lausanne). .

Abstract

Neurotrophic keratitis or keratopathy (NK) is a degenerative corneal disease induced by impairment of the trigeminal nerve function. This condition may lead to persistent epithelial defects, corneal ulceration, and perforation. The diagnosis of NK requires a careful investigation of any ocular and systemic condition associated with the disease and ocular surface and corneal sensitivity examinations. In the past, several medical and surgical procedures were used to treat this condition with different clinical effectiveness. Cenegermin is a recombinant human nerve growth factor (rh-NGF) that supports corneal reinnervation. Different clinical trials have demonstrated the safety and efficacy of topical cenegermin in patients with moderate to severe neurotrophic keratitis. In this review, we report the literature on clinical results regarding the treatment of NK with cenegermin since its approval by the European Medicines Agency (EMA) and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in 2017 and 2018, respectively.

Keywords: cenegermin; corneal sensitivity; nerve growth factors; neurotrophic keratitis; persistent epithelial defects; rh-NGF.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest. The reviewer IA declared a past co-authorship with the author JA to the handling editor.

References

    1. Marfurt CF, Cox J, Deek S, Dvorscak L. Anatomy of the human corneal innervation. Exp Eye Res. (2010) 90:478–92. doi: 10.1016/j.exer.2009.12.010 - DOI - PubMed
    1. Labetoulle M, Baudouin C, Calonge M, Merayo-Lloves J, Boboridis KG, Akova YA, et al. . Role of corneal nerves in ocular surface homeostasis and disease. Acta Ophthalmol. (2019) 97:137–45. doi: 10.1111/aos.13844 - DOI - PubMed
    1. Müller LJ, Marfurt CF, Kruse F, Tervo TM. Corneal nerves: struc- ture, contents and function. Exp Eye Res. (2003) 76:521–42. doi: 10.1016/s0014-4835(03)00050-2 - DOI - PubMed
    1. Al-Aqaba MA, Anis FS, Mohammed I, Dua HS. Nerve terminals at the human corneoscleral limbus. Br J Ophthalmol. (2018) 102:556–61. doi: 10.1136/bjophthalmol-2017-311146 - DOI - PubMed
    1. Shaheen BS, Bakir M and Jain S. Corneal nerves in health and disease. Surv Ophthalmol. (2014) 59:263–85. doi: 10.1016/j.survophthal.2013.09.002 - DOI - PMC - PubMed

LinkOut - more resources