Eye drops could cure blindness breakthrough tests show

A simple eye drop could be the first ever cure for blindness

A CHEAP and simple eye drop could be the first ever cure for blindness, breakthrough tests have shown.

 

Scientists have developed a treatment for cataracts, which blight the lives of millions of pensioners.

The miracle therapy uses a chemical to destroy clumps of protein that cloud vision.

Experiments have shown the debilitating condition - which affects 2.5 million people aged 65 or older - is reversible without surgery. 

British experts hailed the radical remedy as a watershed moment, saying it could lead to millions having their vision restored. 

 

Eye expert professor Roy Quinlan, of Durham University, said: “The discovery that cataracts are reversible is quite remarkable and offers hope to millions of people across the world who have lost their sight due to this treatable disease.

“The current gold standard treatment for cataracts is surgery to remove the affected opaque lens and replace it with a plastic one, but 20 million people in the world are blind due to the lack of medical resources available to carry out this procedure.

“The findings potentially open the door for the development of drugs that could improve the transparency of the lens, removing the need for surgery.”

In experiments on human lens tissue and mice, researchers found the compound dissolved destructive rogue plaques, which proved the condition can be treated without surgery.

 



Scientists have developed a treatment for cataracts which blight the lives of millions of pensioners



The newly identified chemical is the first that is soluble enough to potentially form the basis of a practical eye drop for cataracts which, if left untreated, leads to blindness.

Cataracts develop over many years with problems unnoticeable at first. They often develop in both eyes with sufferers experiencing blurred, cloudy or misty vision.

The discovery that cataracts are reversible is quite remarkable and offers hope to millions of people across the world who have lost their sight due to this treatable disease

Eye expert professor Roy Quinlan, of Durham University

More than 300,000 cataract removal procedures are carried out in the UK each year.

Like neurodegenerative conditions such as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s, a hallmark of the condition is the misfolding and clumping together of crucial proteins, which in cataracts are known as crystallins.

Experts think that shortly after birth all the fibre cells which form the eye’s lenses lose the ability to make new proteins. So those you have as an adult are the same as those you are born with.

In order for lenses to function properly, the reservoir of crystallins must maintain transparency and flexibility while the eye muscles stretch and relax the lens, to allow us to focus on objects at different distances.

 

Crystallins are helped by proteins known as chaperones, which act like antifreeze, keeping them soluble for decades.

Researchers at the University of California, San Francisco, scanned 2,450 chemicals and found one named “compound 29” which melted away cataracts that had formed in human lens tissue and mice. 

They said it is the most likely candidate to be sufficiently soluble for use in cataract-dissolving eye drops.

Tests confirmed compound 29 significantly stabilised crystallins and prevented them from forming into destructive amyloids.

 



Experiments have shown the debilitating condition is reversible without surgery



They also found compound 29 dissolved amyloids that had already formed.

The team tested an eye-drop in mice carrying mutations that make them predisposed to cataracts and found it partially restored transparency.

Similar results were seen when the formula was applied in mice that naturally developed age-related cataracts, and also when the compound was applied to human lens tissue affected by cataracts that had been removed during surgery.

US research company ViewPoint Therapeutics is now developing compound 29 for human use.

 

UK experts hailed the radical remedy saying it could lead to millions having their vision restored

Professor Jason Gestwicki said: “We are starting to understand the mechanism in detail. We know where compound 29 binds and we are beginning to know exactly what it’s doing.

“By studying cataracts we’ve been able to benchmark our technologies and to show by proof-of-concept that these technologies could also be used in nervous system diseases, to lead us all the way from the first idea to a drug we can test in clinical trials.”

Prof Quinlan added: “Such a development could also save millions of pounds from healthcare budgets that is currently spent on operations to remove cataracts.”

Steve Winyard, of the RNIB, said: “This is very interesting research. Anything that removes the need for cataract surgery will be hugely beneficial to patients. If eye drops could be self administered, this would also remove the burden on eye clinics. Further trials are needed but we look forward to hearing more.”