Researchers at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Medicine and the University of Kentucky have identified a new target for the diagnosis and treatment of age-related macular degeneration.
In a study published by the journal Nature, researchers demonstrate that blocking the activity of a specific protein, called CCR3, can reduce the abnormal blood vessel growth that leads to macular degeneration. Targeting this new protein may prove to be safer and more effective than the current treatment for the disease, which is directed at a protein called vascular endothelial growth factor or “VEGF.”
When researchers blocked CCR3, either with drugs or through genetic engineering, they saw a decrease in the generation of abnormal blood vessels. Drugs targeting CCR3 were significantly more effective than those targeting VEGF, which could represent a new therapy for the two-thirds of patients who do not respond to current treatment.
Study authors hope that this discovery may enable physicians to catch the disease in its earliest stages, before blood vessels have fully infiltrated and destroyed the central portion of the eye’s retina (the macula) to cause vision loss.
“It would be much better to prevent the disease in the first place,” said study co-author and principal investigator of the UNC study site, Mary Elizabeth Hartnett, M.D., a professor of ophthalmology in the UNC School of Medicine. “An exciting implication of this study was that the CCR3 protein could be detected in early abnormal blood vessel growth, giving us the opportunity to prevent structural damage to the retina and preserve vision.”
Learn more about macular degeneration at the Natural Eye Care web site
Read other studies about macular degeration
Source: Study suggests new approach to common cause of blindness, Hartnett, et al, June 14, 2009, href=”http://www.unchealthcare.org/site/newsroom/news/2009/June/hartnett?searchterm=macular+degeneration