News
14 February 2013
Scientists at Queen’s University Belfast are hoping to develop a novel approach that could save the sight of millions of diabetes sufferers using adult stem cells.
Currently millions of diabetics worldwide are at risk of sight loss due to a condition called Diabetic Retinopathy. This is when high blood sugar causes the blood vessels in the eye to become blocked or to leak. Failed blood flow harms the retina and leads to vision impairment and if left untreated can lead to blindness.
The novel REDDSTAR study (Repair of Diabetic Damage by Stromal Cell Administration) involving researchers from Queen’s Centre for Vision and Vascular Science in the School of Medicine, Dentistry and Biomedical Sciences, will see them isolating stem cells from donors, expanding them in a laboratory setting and re-delivering them to a patient where they help to repair the blood vessels in the eye. This is especially relevant to patients with diabetes were the vessels of the retina become damaged.
At present there are very few treatments available to control the progression of diabetic complications. There are no treatments which will improve glucose levels and simultaneously treat the diabetic complication.
The €6 million EU funded research is being carried out with NUI Galway and brings together experts from Northern Ireland, Ireland, Germany, the Netherlands, Denmark, Portugal and the US.
Professor Alan Stitt, Director of the Centre for Vision and Vascular Science in Queen’s and lead scientist for the project said: “The Queen’s component of the REDDSTAR study involves investigating the potential of a unique stem cell population to promote repair of damaged blood vessels in the retina during diabetes. The impact could be profound for patients, because regeneration of damaged retina could prevent progression of diabetic retinopathy and reduce the risk of vision loss.
“Currently available treatments for diabetic retinopathy are not always satisfactory. They focus on end-stages of the disease, carry many side effects and fail to address the root causes of the condition. A novel, alternative therapeutic approach is to harness adult stem cells to promote regeneration of the damaged retinal blood vessels and thereby prevent and/or reverse retinopathy.”
“This new research project is one of several regenerative medicine approaches ongoing in the centre. The approach is quite simple: we plan to isolate a very defined population of stem cells and then deliver them to sites in the body that have been damaged by diabetes. In the case of some patients with diabetes, they may gain enormous benefit from stem cell-mediated repair of damaged blood vessels in their retina. This is the first step towards an exciting new therapy in an area where it is desperately needed.”
The research focuses on specific adult stem-cells derived from bone-marrow. Which are being provided by Orbsen Therapeutics, a spin-out from the Science Foundation Ireland-funded Regenerative Medicine Institute (REMEDI) at NUI Galway.
The project will develop ways to grow the bone-marrow-derived stem cells. They will be tested in several preclinical models of diabetic complications at centres in Belfast, Galway, Munich, Berlin and Porto before human trials take place in Denmark.
Queen’s Centre for Vision and Vascular Science is a key focus of the University’s ambitious £140m ‘together we can go Beyond’ fundraising campaign. It is due to expand its Vision Sciences programme further when the University’s new £32m Wellcome-Wolfson Centre for Experimental Medicine opens in 2015. Along with vision, two new programmes in Diabetes and Genomics will also be established in the new Centre which is set to stimulate additional investment, lead to further global collaborations and create more opportunities for new health and biotech companies in Northern Ireland.
07 January 2013
Fight for Sight-funded clinical researcher, Dr Colin Willoughby (CVVS, QUB), along with colleagues from Australia, USA, Singapore and UK, have published new research looking at potential genetic markers that are associated with keratoconus, a common corneal disorder.
This research paper was published online in Nature Genetics.
The team have been working to identify molecular targets for this condition which has a strong genetic basis. The project identified key risk factors which will allow researchers to develop treatments based on therapeutic targets to prevent the disease from developing or progressing. The study also found links between genetic variants controlling corneal thickness and glaucoma risk.
Keratoconus is the leading reason for corneal transplantation in the developed world – currently the only possible treatment - with one-fifth of patients eventually requiring a transplant. It accounts for a quarter of the 2,500 corneal transplants performed in the UK each year.
The sight of patients with keratoconus degenerates as they suffer increasing myopia and irregular astigmatism as the cornea progressively thins and bows forward. Without transparency and refraction in the cornea, it is impossible to have normal vision.
Usually striking during the teenage years and affecting approximately one in 2,000 people, keratoconus is a significant health burden for work-age adults.
Dr Dolores Conroy, Director of Research for Fight for Sight said: “Despite the visual and social impact of keratoconus, the underlying biochemical processes and pathobiology remain poorly understood. The new findings used genome wide association analyses on central corneal thickness from over 20,000 people and identified a number of genes. As a thin cornea is seen in keratoconus these genetic markers were assessed in patients from Northern Ireland and Australia and a number of genetic factors were found to be associated with the development of keratoconus but these need further study. Corneal transplantation, although effective, carries inherent risk so research into alternative treatments for keratoconus is welcomed.