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Some eye disease can be halted, Oklahoma researcher says
BY SUSAN SIMPSON
Oklahoman
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Published: December 1, 2009
Modified: November 30, 2009 at 9:59 pm
A University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center researcher said he believes the progression of diabetes-related eye disease can be halted by blocking a molecular pathway.
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What is diabetic retinopathy?
Diabetic retinopathy is the most common diabetic eye disease and a leading cause of blindness in American adults. It is caused by changes in the blood vessels of the retina.
In some people with diabetic retinopathy, blood vessels may swell and leak fluid. In other people, abnormal new blood vessels grow on the surface of the retina. The retina is the light-sensitive tissue at the back of the eye.
If you have diabetic retinopathy, at first you may not notice changes to your vision. But over time, diabetic retinopathy can worsen, and cause vision loss. Diabetic retinopathy usually affects both eyes.
Source: National Institutes of Health
Jian-xing "Jay” Ma of the Harold Hamm Diabetes Center led a project that showed how the pathway called Wnt contributes to diabetic retinopathy, or damage to the blood vessels in the retina due to inflammation. Ma published a paper on the subject in the December issue of The American Journal of Pathology.
Eye damage is found in up to 80 percent of people who’ve had diabetes for at least a decade, Ma said. It’s a leading cause of blindness among working-age diabetics. Blocking the Wnt pathway stopped the damage in mice and should do the same in humans, Ma said. Ma is a founder of Charlesson LLC, an Oklahoma City-based drug development company, through which he is looking to develop a drug that would block Wnt.
"We believe a drug which can block this Wnt pathway should stop all of these changes in diabetes retinopathy including inflammation, abnormal vessel formation and fibrosis,” he said.
Ma’s research is funded by National Institutes of Health and American Diabetes Association.
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