Retinal pigment epithelial cell death by the alternative complement cascade: role of membrane regulatory proteins, calcium, PKC, and oxidative stress.

Purpose. Retinal pigment epithelial (RPE) cell death is an important feature of the advanced forms of AMD. Complement alternative pathway (AP) activation is associated with RPE cell death in AMD. In this study, we developed a new model to initiate AP activation on RPE cells and investigated the cellular mechanisms modulating AP activation–mediated RPE cell death.