Potential new treatment option for diabetic retinopathy could address the problem much earlier

Key Takeaways

• Researchers have developed a new potential treatment for diabetic retinopathy that could be used earlier than current treatments.
• The treatment, which was tested in animal and cell culture models, addresses the root cause of diabetic retinopathy and can be administered systemically. 

Patients with diabetes face a host of potential health problems as they work to manage the chronic disease. Still, one concern that seems to weigh heavily is the risk of losing their sight through a condition known as diabetic retinopathy. There are currently two treatments for diabetic retinopathy, but both have serious health implications and are fairly invasive. 

Researchers at the University of Oklahoma Health Sciences and Memorial Sloan Kettering (MSK) Cancer Center are working on an exciting new treatment that could address the root cause of diabetic retinopathy and stop progression toward blindness at an earlier stage, and in a less invasive way, than previous treatments. The team found that a certain, very damaging type of lipid, called a ceramide, was present in the eyes of patients with diabetic retinopathy. In turn, they discovered that these ceramides, after stimulation by another type of cell, stick together into large domains that cause damaging inflammatory signals to cells in the eye. This causes cell death and the progression of diabetic retinopathy. The team was then able to create an antibody against these lipids to prevent the ceramide buildup and damaging signals from happening. The studies, published in the journal Cell Metabolism, show great promise in animal and cell culture models.

Perhaps the most important advance from the current treatment is that it addresses the root cause of the disease, as opposed to late symptoms and stopping progression at the vision-threatening stage, explains Julia Busik, Ph.D., who co-led the new study. It can also be administered systemically, so it does not have to be injected into the eye. “If we have this systemic safe treatment,” said Busik. “It could be given to a patient at a much earlier stage when they are just starting to progress, to make sure that they never get to that late stage.”

Edited by Miriam Kaplan, PhD

Source: Bonnier Rucker, University of Oklahoma, Medical Xpress, June 18, 2024; see source article