From the American Academy of Ophthalmology

Researchers have shown that targeting cholesterol metabolism in the eye helps prevent AMD progression in a mouse model. They found that macrophages appear to play a key role in clearing cholesterol from the eye, and that with aging, macrophages become less efficient at processing cholesterol due to a decrease in the level of ABCA1 protein. However, restoration of cholesterol efflux using LXR agonists or miR-33 inhibitors reverses it. Additionally, they found a similar drop in ABCA1 levels in blood cells donated by older people (ages 67 to 87) compared with younger people (ages 25 to34). The ABCA1 gene has been identified as a risk factor for AMD. Cell Metabolism, April 2013