2008 Woodie Awards
UI research focuses on glaucoma gene
Zhi Xiong - The Daily Iowan
Issue date: 2/19/08 Section: Metro
Think tunnel vision - literally.
For patients with a common form of glaucoma, a degenerative eye disease, their field of vision gradually fades at the edges. Three million Americans have a form of glaucoma, and 120,000 have gone blind from it, according to the Glaucoma Research Foundation.
A team of UI scientists have found that a gene, sFRP1, has a complex and key role in glaucoma development. Working with the $5.6 billion-a-year pharmaceutical behemoth Alcon, they discovered over-expression of the gene raised fluid pressure in the eyes. Increased pressure is a treatable factor in the most common form of glaucoma.
The discovery could eventually facilitate early diagnosis and treatment, said John Fingert, a UI assistant professor of ophthalmology who worked on the study.
Eyes are normally bathed in fluids to keep them healthy and nourished, but they need to flow back and forth. Patients with glaucoma cannot do this properly. This causes fluids to build up pressure in the eyes, damaging the optic nerve and cutting off communication to the brain. If nerve-cell death continues untreated, the patient can go blind.
Blacks, the elderly, and those with a family history of the disease are at higher risk. Heredity plays a clear role, Fingert said, but the genes that play more complex roles earned a closer look.
"Like people who have genes that predispose them to heart disease, we know there are genes that predispose glaucoma," he said.
Fingert and his colleagues tested the effects of excess sFRP1 protein on mice and human donor eyes. They found that when there was an abnormality, the resulting proteins interfered with a signaling pathway. Donor eyes that received the sFRP1 protein had a 55 percent reduction in fluid flow rate after four days.
Fingert said he had worked on uncovering the genetic bases of glaucoma since graduate school, comparing gene expression in normal eyes and those with glaucoma. Such was the basis of his later work: Several genes were more active in eyes affected by glaucoma.
Though there is no cure for glaucoma, there are treatments that slow the disease's progression. Eye drops are a common way to ease fluid buildup - some limit fluid production altogether, while others improve fluid flow. Laser surgery is a choice for aggressive cases.
The UI Hospitals and Clinics was emptying out by 4:45 p.m. on Monday, but Young Kwon, an associate professor of ophthalmology, still had two patients yet to be seen in glaucoma services.
Having worked for years in the field, he said, breakthroughs in the lab can take a long time to reach patients.
"It's unlike an infection, where a new antibiotic can be tested right away," he said, adding that a slowly progressing disease like open-angle glaucoma makes it difficult to see the effects of drugs.
Nonetheless, his colleague's findings could eventually lead to blood tests for earlier diagnosis, Kwon said.
E-mail DI reporter Zhi Xiong at:
zhi-xiong@uiowa.edu
For patients with a common form of glaucoma, a degenerative eye disease, their field of vision gradually fades at the edges. Three million Americans have a form of glaucoma, and 120,000 have gone blind from it, according to the Glaucoma Research Foundation.
A team of UI scientists have found that a gene, sFRP1, has a complex and key role in glaucoma development. Working with the $5.6 billion-a-year pharmaceutical behemoth Alcon, they discovered over-expression of the gene raised fluid pressure in the eyes. Increased pressure is a treatable factor in the most common form of glaucoma.
The discovery could eventually facilitate early diagnosis and treatment, said John Fingert, a UI assistant professor of ophthalmology who worked on the study.
Eyes are normally bathed in fluids to keep them healthy and nourished, but they need to flow back and forth. Patients with glaucoma cannot do this properly. This causes fluids to build up pressure in the eyes, damaging the optic nerve and cutting off communication to the brain. If nerve-cell death continues untreated, the patient can go blind.
Blacks, the elderly, and those with a family history of the disease are at higher risk. Heredity plays a clear role, Fingert said, but the genes that play more complex roles earned a closer look.
"Like people who have genes that predispose them to heart disease, we know there are genes that predispose glaucoma," he said.
Fingert and his colleagues tested the effects of excess sFRP1 protein on mice and human donor eyes. They found that when there was an abnormality, the resulting proteins interfered with a signaling pathway. Donor eyes that received the sFRP1 protein had a 55 percent reduction in fluid flow rate after four days.
Fingert said he had worked on uncovering the genetic bases of glaucoma since graduate school, comparing gene expression in normal eyes and those with glaucoma. Such was the basis of his later work: Several genes were more active in eyes affected by glaucoma.
Though there is no cure for glaucoma, there are treatments that slow the disease's progression. Eye drops are a common way to ease fluid buildup - some limit fluid production altogether, while others improve fluid flow. Laser surgery is a choice for aggressive cases.
The UI Hospitals and Clinics was emptying out by 4:45 p.m. on Monday, but Young Kwon, an associate professor of ophthalmology, still had two patients yet to be seen in glaucoma services.
Having worked for years in the field, he said, breakthroughs in the lab can take a long time to reach patients.
"It's unlike an infection, where a new antibiotic can be tested right away," he said, adding that a slowly progressing disease like open-angle glaucoma makes it difficult to see the effects of drugs.
Nonetheless, his colleague's findings could eventually lead to blood tests for earlier diagnosis, Kwon said.
E-mail DI reporter Zhi Xiong at:
zhi-xiong@uiowa.edu
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