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Public release date: 9-Apr-2013[ | E-mail |
Share ] Contact: Andy McGlashen
andy.mcglashen@cabs.msu.edu
517-355-5158
Michigan State University
EAST LANSING, Mich. Researchers have discovered that using two kinds of therapy in tandem may be a knockout combo against inherited disorders that cause blindness. While their study focused on man's best friend, the treatment could help restore vision in people, too.
Published in the journal Molecular Therapy, the study builds on earlier work by Michigan State University veterinary ophthalmologist Andrs Komromy and colleagues. In 2010, they restored day vision in dogs suffering from achromatopsia, an inherited form of total color blindness, by replacing the mutant gene associated with the condition.
While that treatment was effective for most younger dogs, it didn't work for canines older than 1 year. Komromy began to wonder if the older dogs' cones the photoreceptor cells in the retina that process daylight and color might be too worn out.
"Gene therapy only works if the nonfunctional cell that is primarily affected by the disease is not too degenerated," he said. "That's how we came up with the idea for this new study. How about if we selectively destroy the light-sensitive part of the cones and let it grow back before performing gene therapy? Then you'd have a younger, less degenerated cell that may be more responsive to therapy."
So, Komromy and colleagues recruited more dogs with achromatopsia between 1 and 3 years old. To test their theory, they again performed gene therapy but first gave some of the dogs a dose of a protein called CNTF, which the central nervous system produces to keep cells healthy. At a high enough dose, its effect on photoreceptors is a bit like pruning flowers: It partially destroys them, but allows for new growth.
"It was a long shot," said Komromy, associate professor in MSU's Department of Small Animal Clinical Sciences.
But it worked.
"We were just amazed at what we found," he said. "All seven dogs that got the combination treatment responded, regardless of age."
While achromatopsia is quite rare, Komromy said it's a good model disease for other disorders affecting the photoreceptors, conditions that constitute a major cause of incurable blindness in dogs and humans. Those disorders affect individuals of both species in much the same way, so the combination treatment's promise isn't just for Fido.
"Based on our results we are proposing a new concept of retinal therapy," he said. "One treatment option alone might not be enough to reverse vision loss, but a combination therapy can maximize therapeutic success."
###
The research was funded by the National Eye Institute of the National Institutes of Health and the Foundation Fighting Blindness. Scientists from the University of Pennsylvania, University of Florida and University of Miami also participated in the study.
Michigan State University has been working to advance the common good in uncommon ways for more than 150 years. One of the top research universities in the world, MSU focuses its vast resources on creating solutions to some of the world's most pressing challenges, while providing life-changing opportunities to a diverse and inclusive academic community through more than 200 programs of study in 17 degree-granting colleges.
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AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
Public release date: 9-Apr-2013[ | E-mail |
Share ] Contact: Andy McGlashen
andy.mcglashen@cabs.msu.edu
517-355-5158
Michigan State University
EAST LANSING, Mich. Researchers have discovered that using two kinds of therapy in tandem may be a knockout combo against inherited disorders that cause blindness. While their study focused on man's best friend, the treatment could help restore vision in people, too.
Published in the journal Molecular Therapy, the study builds on earlier work by Michigan State University veterinary ophthalmologist Andrs Komromy and colleagues. In 2010, they restored day vision in dogs suffering from achromatopsia, an inherited form of total color blindness, by replacing the mutant gene associated with the condition.
While that treatment was effective for most younger dogs, it didn't work for canines older than 1 year. Komromy began to wonder if the older dogs' cones the photoreceptor cells in the retina that process daylight and color might be too worn out.
"Gene therapy only works if the nonfunctional cell that is primarily affected by the disease is not too degenerated," he said. "That's how we came up with the idea for this new study. How about if we selectively destroy the light-sensitive part of the cones and let it grow back before performing gene therapy? Then you'd have a younger, less degenerated cell that may be more responsive to therapy."
So, Komromy and colleagues recruited more dogs with achromatopsia between 1 and 3 years old. To test their theory, they again performed gene therapy but first gave some of the dogs a dose of a protein called CNTF, which the central nervous system produces to keep cells healthy. At a high enough dose, its effect on photoreceptors is a bit like pruning flowers: It partially destroys them, but allows for new growth.
"It was a long shot," said Komromy, associate professor in MSU's Department of Small Animal Clinical Sciences.
But it worked.
"We were just amazed at what we found," he said. "All seven dogs that got the combination treatment responded, regardless of age."
While achromatopsia is quite rare, Komromy said it's a good model disease for other disorders affecting the photoreceptors, conditions that constitute a major cause of incurable blindness in dogs and humans. Those disorders affect individuals of both species in much the same way, so the combination treatment's promise isn't just for Fido.
"Based on our results we are proposing a new concept of retinal therapy," he said. "One treatment option alone might not be enough to reverse vision loss, but a combination therapy can maximize therapeutic success."
###
The research was funded by the National Eye Institute of the National Institutes of Health and the Foundation Fighting Blindness. Scientists from the University of Pennsylvania, University of Florida and University of Miami also participated in the study.
Michigan State University has been working to advance the common good in uncommon ways for more than 150 years. One of the top research universities in the world, MSU focuses its vast resources on creating solutions to some of the world's most pressing challenges, while providing life-changing opportunities to a diverse and inclusive academic community through more than 200 programs of study in 17 degree-granting colleges.
[ | E-mail | Share ] ?
AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
Source: http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2013-04/msu-opc040813.php
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