Cataracts are an eye disease associated with the aging process in which the lens – the lens of the eye whose main function is to allow us to focus on objects located at different distances – loses transparency and becomes opaque, and as a result visual capacity is reduced and the affected person can become blind. Currently, the treatment of cataracts is surgical and consists of replacing the damaged lens with an artificial one, but a new experimental drug that has obtained good results in laboratory tests may become a simpler therapeutic alternative to solve this problem. .
This new and revolutionary anti-cataract medicine is an oxysterol compound VP1-001 that has been subjected to advanced optical tests by a team of international researchers led by Professor Bárbara Pierscionek, Vice Dean (Research and Innovation) of the Faculty of Health, Education, Medicine and Social Care at Anglia Ruskin University (ARU).
A promisingly effective treatment in certain types of cataracts
The researchers carried out tests in the laboratory with 35 mice, 26 of which received treatment with the oxysterol compound VP1-001, and found that the drug achieved an improvement in the refractive index profiles – an optical parameter that is essential for maintaining a high focusing capacity – in 61% of the lenses. This means that the protein organization of the lens is being restored, which allows it to focus better. This was accompanied by a decrease in lens opacity in 46% of cases.
“This is a significant step toward treating this extremely common condition with medication rather than surgery.”
The results have been published in the peer-reviewed journal Investigative Ophthalmology and Visual Science and are considered very positive, as they open a way for this disease, which can currently only be cured with surgery, to also be treated with drugs, at least in some cases.
“This study has shown the positive effects of a compound that had been proposed as a drug against cataracts, but never before tested in lens optics. It is the first research of its kind in the world”, declared Professor Pierscionek, another member of the Medical Technology Research Center at Anglia Ruskin University (ARU), adding: “It has shown that there is a notable difference and improvement in optics between eyes with the same type of cataract that were treated with the compound compared to those that were not.”
As explained by this expert, the improvements occurred “in some types of cataracts, but not in all, which indicates that this may be a treatment for specific cataracts. This suggests that distinctions between cataract types may need to be made when developing anti-cataract drugs. It is a significant step toward treating this extremely common condition with medication rather than surgery.”
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