Eye diseases such as diabetic retinopathy and age-related macular degeneration are among the leading causes of irreversible vision loss and blindness worldwide. Currently, gene therapy can be administered to treat these conditions — but this requires an injection. Now researchers report in the journal ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces a new way to deliver the treatment topically, without a needle.
The rear part of the eye is where conditions such as proliferative diabetic retinopathy and age-related macular degeneration develop. And they involve a substance called vascular endothelial growth factor, which stimulates the growth of blood vessels. Scientists have been trying to inhibit the growth factor using gene therapy, but delivering drugs to the back of the eye currently requires an injection. Not surprisingly, few patients opt for this type of treatment. Gang Wei and colleagues wanted to find a noninvasive approach.
The researchers developed a gene delivery system with a peptide called penetratin, which has shown good permeability in the eye, and a synthetic polymer called poly(amidoamine) that has previously been used in drug delivery. Testing on rats showed that the complex, when applied as an eye drop, rapidly moved from the eye’s surface to its rear inner lining. It remained in the retina for more than eight hours — enough time for a model gene to be expressed. The findings demonstrate the method’s potential for delivering gene therapy to treat several eye diseases, the researchers say.
The Latest on: Gene therapy in a droplet
[google_news title=”” keyword=”Gene therapy in a droplet” num_posts=”10″ blurb_length=”0″ show_thumb=”left”]
via Google News
The Latest on: Gene therapy in a droplet
- A rural Ugandan community is a hot spot for sickle cell disease. But one patient gives hopeon May 11, 2024 at 11:14 pm
There can be lifelong challenges for people with sickle cell disease in rural Uganda, where it remains poorly understood ...
- Biotech Breakthroughs: 3 Stocks on the Verge of Revolutionizing Medicineon May 9, 2024 at 3:49 am
Biotech breakthrough stocks, along with the sector overall, faced significant challenges over the past two years, with venture capital drying up, shifts in the post-pandemic healthcare landscape and ...
- Editas Medicine’s Innovative In Vivo Gene Editing Approach and Positive Clinical Trial Prospects Bolster Buy Ratingon May 9, 2024 at 3:26 am
Editas Medicine (EDIT – Research Report), the Healthcare sector company, was revisited by a Wall Street analyst yesterday. Analyst ...
- Mass Photometry for Gene Therapy Analyticson May 8, 2024 at 1:00 pm
Mass photometry is a high-throughput technique with fast run times in the region of 60 seconds and no need for labeling.
- Pharmalittle: We’re reading about a boy dying in Pfizer trial; AstraZeneca yanking Covid shot, and moreon May 8, 2024 at 6:15 am
A young boy died in a clinical trial for an experimental Pfizer gene therapy for Duchenne muscular dystrophy, about a year after receiving the therapy.
- Demand grows for outsourced cell therapy manufacturingon May 1, 2024 at 2:55 pm
In latest deal, Bristol Myers Squibb picks Cellares to manufacture its chimeric antigen receptor T-cell therapies for cancers ...
- Tune Therapeutics to test vaccine-like epigenetics platformon April 30, 2024 at 2:22 pm
Duke University spinout Tune Therapeutics is rehearsing the overture of its avant-garde therapeutic platform targeting chronic Hepatitis B Virus (HBV) that could also upend many more chronic disease ...
- Companies prepare to unveil research at ARVO 2024 conferenceon April 30, 2024 at 11:49 am
More companies have released information on presentations related to their pipelines and new data at the ARVO 2024 conference.
- Menthol Cigarette Ban Temporarily Dropped In White House Reversalon April 29, 2024 at 6:05 am
Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra has not said when or if the administration will reconsider the controversial ban, Roll Call notes, and did not discuss a similar proposed ban on ...
- OpenCRISPR-1: World’s first open-source AI scissor edits human geneson April 25, 2024 at 5:51 am
E very day brings with it a new achievement to the credit of AI. From creating full-length movies to predicting human actions, there is truly no domain left untouched by AI, including medicine and ...
via Bing News