24 March 2009

Scientists See a Cure for Blindness



Recent talk in the scientific world has questioned the relationship between glaucoma, a disease that causes cells in the optic nerve to die, and the gene WDR36, a cell associated with cellular processes, including cell cycle progression, signal transduction, apoptosis, and gene regulation. Put simply, researchers at the University of Alberta may be one step closer to finding a cure for glaucoma, which is the leading cause of blindness. While the disease is usually related to aging, it can also appear in children as young as three years old.

Despite previous researchers having suspected this link, it has been unknown as to why some people with mutations of the gene get the disease and others don’t, until now. Dr. Michael Walter chair of the department of medical genetics in the faculty of medicine and dentistry is foremost in this revolutionary case.
"We investigated what WDR36 does and what we found was the mutations of this gene only have a deleterious effect when mutations of other genes were also present," Walter clarified.
"What this means is that you need to have several different mutations simultaneously to get glaucoma. Ultimately, we hope by understanding this process, we will be able to certainly diagnose and treat patients." Walter continues that "When these genes are mutated, we get a new process which we didn't know was involved in glaucoma. So by understanding this we can try to tease apart some of the basic causes of the disease."

Ultimately, this research has also opened the door to other genetic factors that could be involved with glaucoma that have not previously been considered.

Currently there's 65 million people worldwide who are suffering from this disease, and Walter maintains that his research will cure 67% of this populace, with the goal of curing all affected.

The research team's results will be published in the April 1 edition of the Human Molecular Genetics journal.

42028639

Pictures from:
Posted by at
Labels: