Boosting a key protein in eye cells could help protect adults aged 50 and older against the biggest cause of sight loss, scientists have found.
Age-related macular degeneration (AMD) – a common condition impacting the middle part of a person’s vision – affects around 700,000 people in the UK and currently has no effective treatments.
A research team led by the University of Bristol discovered that increasing the levels of a protein called IRAK-M helped protect the retina – the thin layer of tissue at the back of the eye that is essential for maintaining vision.
The researchers said this breakthrough could potentially pave the way for gene therapies that could boost IRAK-M levels to protect against AMD.
Andrew Dick, professor of ophthalmology from Bristol Medical School at the University of Bristol and director of the UCL Institute of Ophthalmology, said: “Our findings suggest that boosting a protein called IRAK-M could be a potential treatment strategy for AMD and could offer an exciting new therapeutic target for this common condition for which effective therapies remain elusive.”
AMD mainly affects people over the age of 50.
It does not cause total blindness but can make everyday activities such as reading, driving and recognising faces difficult.
The exact cause of AMD is unknown, but has been linked to smoking, high blood pressure, being overweight and having a family history of the disease.
The IRAK-M protein is a key part of the immune system that helps protect the retinal pigment epithelium (RPE) – a layer of cells crucial for maintaining a healthy retina.
Damaged RPE cells can cause serious eye conditions and vision loss.
The researchers found IRAK-M decreases with age – especially in RPE cells – and this decline is more pronounced in those with AMD.
Findings showed that increasing IRAK-M levels helped reduce retinal degeneration.
The researchers have created a spin-out company called Cirrus Therapeutics to explore new therapies for AMD.
Dr Ying Kai Chan, Cirrus Therapeutics co-founder and chief executive, said: “This discovery will build and improve upon current treatments for AMD, which are targeting single pathophysiology pathways.
“Our novel approach not only addresses the multiple pathways involved in treating AMD but also offers the most compelling and evidence-based strategy available today.”
The findings are published in the journal Science Translational Medicine.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here