Drug to prevent vision loss in diabetics

Hope on horizon for people suffering from diabetic retinopathy.

Written By: Editorial Team | Updated : April 15, 2015 8:52 PM IST

Diabetic patients who often face threat of vision loss in their old age may heave a sigh of relief as researchers have now developed a new drug approach to treat retinopathy or retina degeneration associated with growth of malformed blood vessels in the eye.

The growth of malformed blood vessels that can burst is a leading cause of vision loss in many parts of the world, but the newly developed bio-engineered compound could offer a safer method to plug the leaky vessels. Called 'sticky-trap,' the therapeutic shuts down tiny deformed blood vessels in the eye without affecting healthy vessels in other sites of the body. Read to know about causes, symptoms and treatments of diabetic retinopathy.

'Sticky-trap', which can be injected into the eye, includes a binding component that attaches to the surface of cells, ensuring that it remains in place and is stable, as well as the biologically active component. 'That is important when a treatment involves injection directly into a diseased tissue,' said Iacovos Michael, a post-doctoral fellow who works in the laboratory of Andras Nagy, a professor at the University of Toronto in Canada.

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The researchers found the compound safe and effective when treating retinopathy in mice. The compound is stable and lasts for long once in the eye. Once it gets into circulation, it quickly inactivates - ensuring that it does not affect other blood vessels, tissues and organs.

Patients with diabetic retinopathy are losing vision because blood vessels in their eyes overgrow, become deformed and burst, often tearing the retina in the process. Drugs that suppress the excess vessel formation in the eye could negatively affect healthy organs if they escape into the blood, causing kidney function problems, poor wound healing and hypertension, said Toronto university professor Andras Nagy. Also read how diabetes can make you go blind.

Retinopathy and retina degeneration are associated with premature birth, with diabetes and with increasing age. The study appeared in the journal EMBO Molecular Medicine.

What is the retina? How does it help us see?

The retina is like a camera. The light entering through the cornea of eye is focussed by the lens onto the retina. So retina is the layer which acts like the film in the camera. In short, it is the transparent layer right at the back of the eye. Retina contains light sensitive cells known as photoreceptors which receive the light and transmit this information to brain through optic nerves. The brain interprets this as a picture.

What are the common problems in the retina?

The common problems seen in the retina are diabetic retinopathy, age related macular degeneration, retinal vein occlusion (common in patients with high blood pressure), retinal detachment, retinal holes and tears, injuries to the eye involving retina, common problems of retina in children associated with genetic disorders and retinopathy of prematurity. Diabetic retinopathy is one of the most common retinal disorders that we treat now-a-days. As we know, India is the capital of diabetes of the world and some of the eye-related diabetes complications include retinopathy, nephropathy, and neuropathy.

In diabetic retinopathy retina receives less blood supply, a condition called hypoxia. Because of hypoxia the earliest changes seen are swelling and blood clots on the retina. These changes are called non-proliferative or background diabetic retinopathy. In advanced diabetic retinopathy there is increased blood clots and swelling affecting the patient's vision. Diabetic maculopathy involves the centre of retina. The patient's vision can get affected in the earliest stages of retinal maculopathy. If untreated, these conditions can progress into proliferative diabetic retinopathy, a condition in which there is bleeding from the retina (vitreous or pre-retinal haemorrhage) and blood vessels growing from the surface of retina invade the front part of the eye. This can be a very dangerous and fast progressing condition which requires surgical intervention in most of the cases. If not treated, it leads to end stage of diabetic retinopathy which is known as neo-vascular glaucoma. In this condition the intraocular (eye) pressure goes up due to blood vessels invading front part of the eye resulting in painful blind eye.

With inputs from ANI

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