Cataract is responsible of more than the half of blindness in the world ; it hits about 20 millions of people and the only solution, at the moment, is the removal of crystalline through surgery.
But, American and Chinese scientists have provided encourgaing proofs of the potential of a collyrium for the treatment of cataract , that could pass to clinical experimentation in less than one year.
The research,published on magazine Nature, proves that treatment of cataract with lanosterol, a compound of steroids, can reduce the tissue opacification. the results identify the molecule as a key component in the caratract formation and underline its potential as a non surgery treatment.
The researchers team of University of California, San Diego (UCSD), sequenced DNA of a certain number of kids affected by congenital cataract, founding mutations in genes linked with production of lanosterol.
Using eyes afftected by cataract taken by rabbits, the researchers discovered that, incubating the crystallin into a solution made of lanosterol for a certain number of days, they could recude its opacity. Collyriums lanosterol based, have been experimented also to imrpove the clairty of lenses in dogs with cataract linked to age.
The production of lanosterol is itself a key passage in cholesterol synthesis, hormos steroids and Vitamin D. Researchers suggest that molecule can penetrate into proteins clusters , allowing them to be soluble into the water.
Professor Kang Zhang, from UCSD, referred to Nature: "Our study is the first to show that lanosterol ( and its correlated compounds) can be a new class of medicines devoted to prevention and cure of cataract" .
He , the, added: "Considered that lanosterol is a molecule produced by our body, the problem of toxicity of a medicine will be minimum or void. So, I foresee that we will start the clinical experimentations for the treatment of cataract within one year."
We are sure that science progresses will bring us to solve difficult problems with less invasive solutions and more decisive.
Let's keep on supporting the research and development today for a better future tomorrow.
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