Dr.Ayman
09-19-2002, 03:43 PM
August 12, 2002
Offering sharp insights as to what causes glaucoma and creative approaches toward treating or perhaps even preventing the disease, 39 scientists from seven countries traded information that inched the glaucoma conundrum closer to more answers at the Seventh Annual Glaucoma Foundation Optic Nerve Rescue and Restoration Think Tank.
The two day September meeting in New York City focused on genetics -- `where we are already well down the road,´ according to Think Tank Scientific Chair Julia E. Richards, Ph.D. It also offered what she said was `the first peek through the door at a new concept´ -- glaucoma as a disease where the immune system plays a role, and not necessarily a negative one.
Glaucoma is a group of diseases that can destroy the cells of the eye¹s optic nerve, which carries visual impulses to the brain. It can lead to loss of vision. In fact, glaucoma is the leading cause of preventable blindness. At least three million people in the United States, and 67 million worldwide, are afflicted with glaucoma. Half of them don´t know they have the disease. There is no cure for glaucoma yet, and right now vision that is lost cannot be restored.
Robert Ritch, M.D., Medical Director of The Glaucoma Foundation and Organizing Chair of the Think Tank, said, `Where once, lowering intraocular pressure was the only way to treat these diseases, radically new approaches to protecting the nerve cells by strengthening them to withstand damage or blocking the biological processes which lead to the damage, are being developed.´ Dr. Ritch and The Glaucoma Foundation started the Think Tank as a way to get some of the brightest minds from all scientific disciplines together to brainstorm and come up with breakthrough solutions to the mysteries of glaucoma.
The gene hunt is a primary focus for all researchers. `The key to critical points in the disease -- the initiating events that start the ball rolling and the later events that cause the damage -- is understanding the underlying causes. And a powerful way to go after the causes is to go after the genes,´ said Dr. Richards, whose glaucoma research at the University of Michigan has led to glaucoma gene cloning, mapping and mutation screening.
Glaucoma genetics is moving rapidly, with six genes already identified and several more mapped. Once specific genes are understood to be responsible for turning on or off specific processes that contribute to glaucoma, the possibility exists that, in the future, researchers will be able to develop gene therapy, aimed at reprogramming the abnormal genes. This is already in the animal model stage, explained Think Tank participant Paul Kaufman, M.D., of the University of Wisconsin, whose own laboratory is collaborating with others to work on viruses that will effectively carry genes. `We´re not ready for clinical testing with humans yet,´ he said, `but I predict that in a decade and a half patients will be treated with gene therapy.´
Still, the researchers caution the answers to glaucoma may be different for different people. `This is not surprising since glaucoma is multiple diseases,´ said Dr. Richards. `Lots of people think finding glaucoma genes means that developing gene therapy is the next step. But a better understanding of the processes by which the disease begins or progresses might also offer clues to simpler ways to approach glaucoma through medications or perhaps even vaccines.´
That´s why much of the Think Tank discussion was also focused on the body´s immune system, which may hold more clues to the progression of the disease. The scientific jury is still out, but all three approaches to future glaucoma therapy -- genetics, pharmacology, and yes, even vaccines -- were discussed as ways to treat and perhaps even prevent glaucoma.
`The concept of a vaccine that can rescue or even protect the optic nerve from developing glaucoma is quite tantalizing,´ said Dr. Richards. That concept, she pointed out, was put forth at the Think Tank by Michal Schwartz, Ph.D., of the Weizmann Institute of Science in Israel, who also served as a Scientific Chair.
The researchers pointed to gaps that must be overcome with scientific data. Studies that need to be done depend on enough funding from foundations like The Glaucoma Foundation, which in turn depends on contributions to its research fund.
And although the cure is not yet around the corner, scientists see light with promising developments. Said Dr. Paul Kaufman optimistically and with great confidence when talking about emerging therapies: `Star Wars has landed in the laboratory, and we can envision its transfer to the clinic within a rational time frame.´ And Special Thanks to The Seventh Annual Think Tank Chairs for their dedication and effort that made this event possible:
Robert Ritch, M.D.
Organizing Chairman
Julia E. Richards, Ph.D.
Scientific Chairperson
Michal Schwartz, Ph.D.
Scientific Chairperson
Henri-Jean Garchon, M.D., Ph.D.
Scientific Chairperson
Source:- http://www.glaucomafoundation.org
Offering sharp insights as to what causes glaucoma and creative approaches toward treating or perhaps even preventing the disease, 39 scientists from seven countries traded information that inched the glaucoma conundrum closer to more answers at the Seventh Annual Glaucoma Foundation Optic Nerve Rescue and Restoration Think Tank.
The two day September meeting in New York City focused on genetics -- `where we are already well down the road,´ according to Think Tank Scientific Chair Julia E. Richards, Ph.D. It also offered what she said was `the first peek through the door at a new concept´ -- glaucoma as a disease where the immune system plays a role, and not necessarily a negative one.
Glaucoma is a group of diseases that can destroy the cells of the eye¹s optic nerve, which carries visual impulses to the brain. It can lead to loss of vision. In fact, glaucoma is the leading cause of preventable blindness. At least three million people in the United States, and 67 million worldwide, are afflicted with glaucoma. Half of them don´t know they have the disease. There is no cure for glaucoma yet, and right now vision that is lost cannot be restored.
Robert Ritch, M.D., Medical Director of The Glaucoma Foundation and Organizing Chair of the Think Tank, said, `Where once, lowering intraocular pressure was the only way to treat these diseases, radically new approaches to protecting the nerve cells by strengthening them to withstand damage or blocking the biological processes which lead to the damage, are being developed.´ Dr. Ritch and The Glaucoma Foundation started the Think Tank as a way to get some of the brightest minds from all scientific disciplines together to brainstorm and come up with breakthrough solutions to the mysteries of glaucoma.
The gene hunt is a primary focus for all researchers. `The key to critical points in the disease -- the initiating events that start the ball rolling and the later events that cause the damage -- is understanding the underlying causes. And a powerful way to go after the causes is to go after the genes,´ said Dr. Richards, whose glaucoma research at the University of Michigan has led to glaucoma gene cloning, mapping and mutation screening.
Glaucoma genetics is moving rapidly, with six genes already identified and several more mapped. Once specific genes are understood to be responsible for turning on or off specific processes that contribute to glaucoma, the possibility exists that, in the future, researchers will be able to develop gene therapy, aimed at reprogramming the abnormal genes. This is already in the animal model stage, explained Think Tank participant Paul Kaufman, M.D., of the University of Wisconsin, whose own laboratory is collaborating with others to work on viruses that will effectively carry genes. `We´re not ready for clinical testing with humans yet,´ he said, `but I predict that in a decade and a half patients will be treated with gene therapy.´
Still, the researchers caution the answers to glaucoma may be different for different people. `This is not surprising since glaucoma is multiple diseases,´ said Dr. Richards. `Lots of people think finding glaucoma genes means that developing gene therapy is the next step. But a better understanding of the processes by which the disease begins or progresses might also offer clues to simpler ways to approach glaucoma through medications or perhaps even vaccines.´
That´s why much of the Think Tank discussion was also focused on the body´s immune system, which may hold more clues to the progression of the disease. The scientific jury is still out, but all three approaches to future glaucoma therapy -- genetics, pharmacology, and yes, even vaccines -- were discussed as ways to treat and perhaps even prevent glaucoma.
`The concept of a vaccine that can rescue or even protect the optic nerve from developing glaucoma is quite tantalizing,´ said Dr. Richards. That concept, she pointed out, was put forth at the Think Tank by Michal Schwartz, Ph.D., of the Weizmann Institute of Science in Israel, who also served as a Scientific Chair.
The researchers pointed to gaps that must be overcome with scientific data. Studies that need to be done depend on enough funding from foundations like The Glaucoma Foundation, which in turn depends on contributions to its research fund.
And although the cure is not yet around the corner, scientists see light with promising developments. Said Dr. Paul Kaufman optimistically and with great confidence when talking about emerging therapies: `Star Wars has landed in the laboratory, and we can envision its transfer to the clinic within a rational time frame.´ And Special Thanks to The Seventh Annual Think Tank Chairs for their dedication and effort that made this event possible:
Robert Ritch, M.D.
Organizing Chairman
Julia E. Richards, Ph.D.
Scientific Chairperson
Michal Schwartz, Ph.D.
Scientific Chairperson
Henri-Jean Garchon, M.D., Ph.D.
Scientific Chairperson
Source:- http://www.glaucomafoundation.org