A new treatment allowed to regenerate the damaged retinal cells. For now, the treatment was done in rats, but the roads are the same in humans – this opens the hope of a new way to treat certain types of blindness.
A Retinite pigmentosa It affects about 1.5 million people around the world. The number one cause of hereditary blindness associated with retinal degeneration is considered.
The disease causes the degrading of light -sensitive cells, called photoreceptors, in the retina, leading to a progressive decline of the vision and, eventually, to the Total Loss of Central Vision.
There is no cure for pigmentosa retinitis yet. However, a study recently in the Nature guarantees that you have made a breakthrough in treatment, which may lead to a treatment.
To conduct their investigation, the researchers from the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (Kaist) inspired the fish-in particular, the unlucky fish. This is because when these animals suffer damage to their retinas, they have the strange ability to regenerate damaged cells. The reason for this resides in Müller Glia Cells. A lining of these cells forms a link between the inner and outer layers of the retina, as well as helping to remove neuronal residues from the eye and the transmission of light.
When fish undergo retinal injuries, Müller’s glia cells differ in retinal progenitor cells, which generate new neurons and help fish keep their vision function properly. The same does not happen in mammals and, by studying donated human eyes and mice eyes that were modified to suffer retina injuries, Kaist researchers found out why.
It is due to a protein called PROX1 that was present in the damaged human eyes and mouse.
The new study noted that prox1 inhibited the differentiation of müller’s glial cells in mammals. With this blocked capacity, glia cells cannot begin to regenerate retinal cells. Thus, as details A, the researchers developed an antibody that binds to prox1.
When the antibody was injected into the retinal of mice affected by pigmentary retinite, prox1 action was blocked, retinal regeneration was restored and the Vision returned for a period of more than six months.
The team is already developing the prox antibody and expects to start humans’ tests in 2028 for patients with pigmentosa retinite and other retinal diseases that currently have no cure.
“We want to find a solution for blindness patients who currently do not have appropriate treatment options,” research leader Eun Jung Lee told New Atlas.
