American Society of Hematology honors student with competitive award
A new study in mice hints at the promise of an eventual alternative treatment option for the “wet” version of age-related macular degeneration (AMD).
Researchers determined in mice that an enzyme related to cell growth and division is a culprit in the blood vessel invasion in the back of the eye that causes blurred central vision in wet AMD. Targeting the enzyme, called telomerase, with an experimental drug suppressed abnormal vascular growth in the animals’ retina.
Senior study author Nagaraj Kerur, associate professor of ophthalmology and visual sciences at The Ohio State University College of Medicine, says the only current treatment for wet AMD is injection into the eye of a medication that blocks the activity of a growth factor protein, called VEGF, which is also known to prompt formation of abnormal blood vessel growth in this condition.
“Anti-VEGF treatment has shortcomings – after two years, about half of people stop responding. And patients can develop scarring under the retina,” Dr. Kerur says.
The study was published recently in the journal Biochimica et Biophysica Acta – Molecular Basis of Disease.
