The high intraocular pressure seen in glaucoma slowly leads to blindness. For some people, eye drops, the first-line treatment, do not work. Researchers have developed a promising new method of treating the high eye pressure associated with glaucoma using gene therapy.
Glaucoma, which affects up to 80 million people worldwide, is usually caused by elevated intraocular pressure (IOP). Glaucoma is expected to affect 110 million people by 2040.
The eye constantly produces a fluid called aqueous humor that keeps the eye in shape and nourishes it. Fluid drains from the eye through the anterior chamber angle or drainage angle. When the drainage angle is damaged, the eye produces more aqueous humor than it can drain, resulting in increased intraocular pressure and irreversible damage to the optic nerve, leading to blindness.
The first-line treatment for glaucoma is eye drops made with prostaglandin analogues that lower intraocular pressure. However, 25% to 50% of people do not respond to treatment and their intraocular pressure remains elevated.
Researchers at Trinity College Dublin, in collaboration with biotechnology company Exhaura Ltd, have developed a new gene therapy-based approach to reduce IOP that shows great potential for the treatment of glaucoma.
“With this exciting project, we are bridging the gap between academia and industry, working very closely with gene therapy companies to create cutting-edge therapies that we believe have great potential for patients of the future. I was able to develop a research.
Researchers used adeno-associated virus (AAV). It is a biotechnological tool that uses non-enveloped viruses to deliver modified genetic material to tissues and cells. After birth, the altered genes create new instructions for those tissues or cells and help treat disease.
Here, researchers directed AAV to produce the enzyme matrix metalloproteinase 3 (MMP-3), which helps initiate the outflow of aqueous humor from the eye.
The researchers started the experiment in mice, injecting AAV into the back of the eye. They found that AAV-mediated increases in MMP-3 increased fluid outflow and decreased IOP. When we tested this treatment on human donor eyes, we also found increased outflow.
Researchers say the years of research done to get to this point are well worth it, and the results of the study are promising.
“Our new approach to treating glaucoma using gene therapy is the culmination of more than seven years of research,” said Jeffrey O’Callaghan, lead author of the study. “We hope that this therapy will pave the way for the development of treatments for other forms of blinding eye disease.”
The study was published in a journal scientific progress.
Source: Trinity College Dublin
