[fcb-l] WONDER DRUG TO STOP BLINDNESS

[Don Moore]

WONDER DRUG TO STOP BLINDNESS
Thursday July 26,2012
Jo Willey

A CURE for blindness has moved a major step closer after a simple chemical 
injection in the eye was shown to restore sight.

The breakthrough gives hope to millions of people suffering from inherited 
and age-related blindness.

Scientists in the US used the technique to bring back sight to blind mice.

They are now developing an improved version of the chemical, known as AAQ, 
which they believe could be just as effective on humans.

Dr Russell Van Gelder, a leading eye expert at ­Washington University in 
Seattle who helped in the pioneering research, said: “This is a major 
advance in the field of vision ­restoration.”

Wonder drug AAQ works by making normally “blind’’ cells in the retina 
sensitive to light.

The researchers hope it will defeat the genetic disease retinitis 
pigmentosa – the most ­common inherited form of blindness – as well as 
age-related macular degeneration (AMD).

A quarter of all over-60s in Britain and more than half of over-75s are hit 
by AMD.

It is the UK’s leading cause of blindness, affecting at least half a million 
people. The number of sufferers is expected to rise rapidly as the 
population ages. Currently there are few treatments – and no cure – for the 
condition.

It is caused by the deterioration of the cells in the macula, the part of 
the retina used to see straight ahead, ­robbing sufferers of their central 
vision.

The more common “dry” form affects the eyes gradually, sometimes over many 
decades. But one in seven of those with dry AMD will develop the more 
serious wet form and lose their central vision almost immediately.

The number of people being struck by AMD is set to soar by the end of the 
decade. A recent study predicted a rise in NHS cases from 26,000 to 71,000 
annually.

In both AMD and the genetic disease retinitis pigmentosa, light-sensitive 
cells in the retina die, leaving the eye without working photo-receptors. 
But researchers say that when light activates the chemical AAQ, it switches 
on brain cells in a similar way to the light-sensitive cells in working 
retinas. It means that the brain registers light received through the eye.

Steve Winyard, of the Royal National Institute of Blind People, said last 
night: “This is very interesting research.

“RNIB welcomes the continuing research into treatments that could one day 
help to restore some people’s vision, particularly as it is predicted that 
by 2050 the number of people with sight loss in the UK will double to nearly 
four million.

“However, clearly it is still at an early stage and more extensive trials 
are needed to confirm the safety and effectiveness of this kind of 
treatment.”

After being injected into the eye, AAQ eventually wears off. But the US team 
believes it offers a safer alternative to other experimental ways for 
restoring sight, such as gene or stem cell ­therapies which permanently 
change the retina.

It is also less invasive than implanting light-sensitive chips in the eye.

The study’s co-author, Professor Richard Kramer of California University in 
Berkeley, said: “The advantage of this approach is it is a simple chemical 
which means that you can change the dosage.

“You can use it in combination with other therapies or you can discontinue 
the therapy if you don’t like the results.

“As improved chemicals become available you could offer them to patients. 
You can’t do that when you surgically implant a chip or after you 
genetically modify somebody.”

New versions of AAQ which activate neurons, or nerve cells, for days rather 
than hours are now being tested.

http://www.express.co.uk/posts/view/335309/Wonder-drug-to-stop-blindness