The research group in Diabetes, Endocrinology and Metabolism Research Institute Vall d’Hebron, Barcelona has identified a new therapeutic target against diabetic retinopathy, often in patients with diabetes and major cause of blindness in developed countries.
The publication, which presents the journal Diabetology , provides for the first time that a saving of a protein called IRBP – interphotoreceptor retinoid-binding protein – in a very early stage of that disease.
With this finding identifies a new therapeutic target for this disease of the retina that is one of the most common complications in diabetics.
The protein is found in the retina and is essential for the visual cycle, when transport of vitamin A and nourish the eye’s photoreceptor cells.
In a previous investigation conducted by the same experts, analyzed the proteins containing vitreous samples of patients with diabetic retinopathy and is aware of a deficit of IRBP.
However, it was not known whether this deficit existed in the early stages of the disease and this was precisely what was intended to find out with the new study, which was later confirmed.
Diabetic retinopathy causes neurodegeneration of the retina that is already present before it can detect any abnormalities of the microcirculation.
“To diagnose diabetic retinopathy examine the retinal blood vessels, but even these do not show affection, the retina may be damaged,” said the group’s director, Rafael Simó.
“The study of the mechanisms leading to neurodegeneration and its effects on proteins involved in the visual cycle may be crucial to identify new therapeutic targets in the early stages of diabetic retinopathy,” he added.
For the study samples were compared diabetic patients who were diagnosed with no diabetic retinopathy, with this fluid samples obtained from subjects without diabetes and a lower level was detected in IRBP in nondiabetics.
