Preventing retina damage in [High Glucose Conditions] eye diseases


- - -

Excerpts [with inserts, not part of original
article, included in brackets]:

- - -
July 27, 2012

Study finds novel therapy that may prevent
damage to the retina in ... [High Glucose
Conditions] eye diseases
http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-07-therapy-retina-diabetic-eye-diseases.html
- - -

Researchers at the University of Michigan
Kellogg Eye Center have identified a com-
pound that could interrupt the chain of
events that cause damage to the retina
in ... [High Glucose Conditions] retino-
pathy .

The finding is significant because it could
lead to a novel therapy that targets two
mechanisms at the root of the disease:
inflammation and the weakening of the
blood barrier that protects the retina.

To date, treatments for ... [High Glucose
Conditions] retinopathy, the leading cause
of blindness among working-age Americans,
have been aimed largely at one of those
mechanisms.

In ... [High Glucose Conditions] retinopathy,
damage to the retina results, in part, from
the activity of vascular endothelial growth
factor (VEGF), a protein that weakens the
protective blood-retinal barrier.

Recent drugs targeting VEGF have exhibited
good response for nearly half of the patients
with ... [this type of] retinopathy.

But researchers believe that there is also
an inflammatory component that may con-
tribute to the disease process. ... "In ... [this
type of] retinopathy and a host of other retinal
diseases, increases in VEGF and inflammatory
factors - some of the same factors that contri-
bute to the response to an infection - cause
blood vessels in the eye to leak which, in turn,
results in a buildup of fluid in the neural tissue
of the retina," ...

"This insidious form of modified inflammation
can eventually lead to blindness." The com-
pound targets atypical protein kinase C (aPKC),
required for VEGF to make blood vessels leak.
Moreover, Antonetti's laboratory has demon-
strated that the compound is effective at block-
ing damage from tumor necrosis factor also
elevated in [this type of] retinopathy that com-
prises part of the inflammation.

.... "We've identified an important target in
regulating blood vessel leakage in the eye
and we have a therapy that works in animal
models.

Our research is in the early stages of develop-
ment. We still have a long way to go to demon-
strate effectiveness of this compound in humans
to create a new therapy but the results are very
promising."

- - - end excerpts - - -

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

- - -
Pro-Humanist FREELOVER
C.ure I.nsulinitis A.ssociation
http://prohuman.net/ureinsulinitisassociation.htm
- - -


.

Relevant Pages

  • Re: Flash Blinded By Green Laser
    ... >>even retinal damage. ... > even glance at the Sun you are putting more stress on your retina than a ... > power laser can induce. ... I wish they decided to ban cellphones at least in cars. ...
    (sci.astro.amateur)
  • Re: led as illuminator
    ... and the intensity could certainly damage ... without a heat sink. ... I will follow your suggestion and spare my retina. ... an UV light source, when I was young, until I felt my eyes fry. ...
    (sci.techniques.microscopy)
  • Re: Flash Blinded By Green Laser
    ... >even retinal damage. ... Anything from an electronic failure in the ... even glance at the Sun you are putting more stress on your retina than a low ... power laser can induce. ...
    (sci.astro.amateur)
  • Re: G.M.T. Monday 13th February 2006
    ... checked out for cataracts at the hospital about 20 years ago. ... from that retinal damage. ... He also had cataracts that were so bad the doc couldn't see into his eyes, ... but with an almost non-functional retina, ...
    (uk.people.silversurfers)
  • Re: Scotoma was The Actual Data about the Relationship of Tight Control & Retinopathy
    ... bits of the retina. ... thought I was losing the sight of that eye. ... If these change it will take time for the aqueous humour to settle ... That's proliferative retinopathy. ...
    (alt.support.diabetes)