Patients with diabetes face a host of potential health problems as they work to manage the chronic disease. Still, one concern that seems to weigh heavily is the risk of losing their sight through a condition known as diabetic retinopathy.
National Eye Institute-supported research at the University of Oklahoma Health Sciences and Memorial Sloan Kettering (MSK) Cancer Center suggests a new treatment for diabetic retinopathy that could change the prognosis for these patients.
Julia Busik, Ph.D., professor and chair of the department of biochemistry and physiology in collaboration with Richard Kolesnick, MD of MSK Cancer Center, recently published a report in the journal Cell Metabolism that details how anti-ceramide immunotherapy can address the root cause of the disease and stop progression toward blindness at an earlier stage than previous treatments.
The researchers are working on a treatment that could address the root cause of diabetic retinopathy. Continuing research that Busik began at Michigan State University, has taken a closer look at lipids, specifically lipid pathways in the retina of the eye, and how they are affected by diabetes. The team found that a damaging type of lipid, or ceramide, was present in the eyes of patients with diabetic retinopathy. In turn, they discovered that these ceramides, after stimulation by inflammatory cytokines, stick together into large domains that cause damaging inflammatory signals to cells in the eye. This causes cell death and the progression of diabetic retinopathy.
In collaboration with the Kolesnick laboratory at MSK Cancer Center, Busik’s team was then able to create an antibody against these lipids to prevent the ceramide buildup from happening and signaling the damage to healthy cells in the retina. The studies show great promise in animal and cell culture models.
Read more at the University of Oklahoma website.