Researchers find how to reverse diabetes-induced blindness

Blindness due to diabetes could be reversed to restore eyesight by blocking a second blood vessel growth protein, according to a new study.

Research led by John Hopkins University and the University of Maryland uncovered the action of a well-known growth factor that stimulated abnormal blood vessels in the eye.

In diabetic retinopathy, the normal blood vessels in the eye are replaced with abnormal, fragile blood vessels that bleed into the eye, and damage the light-sensitive retina causing blindness.

Using laser these vessels could be sealed, but it could lead to loss of peripheral and night vision.

Drugs blocking a growth factor VEGF that stimulated the abnormal blood vessels could only slow the blindness but not prevent it.

Researchers at the John Hopkins University School of Medicine found that VEGF levels in the eye fluid tended to be higher in those with proliferative diabetic retinopathy; it was lower in some patients than in healthy participants.

The low VEGF fluid however stimulated the growth of blood vessels in lab-grown cells.

According to Akrit Sodhi, an assistant professor of Ophthalmology, at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, the results suggested to the researchers that although VEGF clearly played an important role in blood vessel growth, it was not the only factor.

The second factor was revealed in lab-grown human and mice cells, a protein called angiopoietin-like 4.

By blocking the action of both VEGF and angiopoietin-like 4 in fluid from the eyes of people with proliferative diabetic retinopathy, the researchers were able to markedly reduce blood vessel growth in lab-grown cells.

The study was reported in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.