UNC research points to promising treatment for macular degeneration

Researchers at the University of North Carolina School of Medicine today published new findings in the hunt for a better treatment for macular degeneration. In studies using mice, a class of drugs known as MDM2 inhibitors proved highly effective at regressing the abnormal blood vessels responsible for the vision loss associated with the disease.

“We believe we may have found an optimized treatment for macular degeneration,” said senior study author Sai Chavala, MD, director of the Laboratory for Retinal Rehabilitation and assistant professor of Ophthalmology and Cell Biology & Physiology at the UNC School of Medicine. “Our hope is that MDM2 inhibitors would reduce the treatment burden on both patients and physicians.”

The research appeared Sept. 9, 2013 in the Journal of Clinical Investigation.

As many as 11 million Americans have some form of macular degeneration, which is the most common cause of central vision loss in the western world. Those with the disease find many daily activities such as driving, reading and watching TV increasingly difficult.

Currently, the best available treatment for macular degeneration is an antibody called anti-VEGF that is injected into the eye. Patients must visit their doctor for a new injection every 4-8 weeks, adding up to significant time and cost.

“The idea is we’d like to have a long-lasting treatment so patients wouldn’t have to receive as many injections,” said Chavala. “That would reduce their overall risk of eye infections, and also potentially lower the economic burden of this condition by reducing treatment costs.” Chavala practices at the Kittner Eye Center at UNC Health Care in Chapel Hill and New Bern.

The Facts on Macular Degeneration

The macula is a tiny circle in the middle of the retina, a light-sensitive membrane that lines the inside of the back of the eye. In older people, it sometimes begins to deteriorate or degenerate for unknown reasons. Women are believed to be more at risk than men. Macular degeneration is the leading cause of legal blindness in Canada, accounting for 34% of cases. However, macular degeneration rarely leaves you totally unable to see.

There are two types of this disease:

Dry macular degeneration accounts for about 90% of cases. The tissue of the retina shrinks and pigments accumulate inside of it. Dry macular degeneration can progress to the wet form.
In wet macular degeneration, new blood vessels grow around and behind the macula. There's sometimes bleeding in or behind the macula. Material seeps into the retina and settles in the macula. This is called an exudate. Eventually the exudate disappears, but a scar takes its place. All people who have wet macular degeneration had dry macular degeneration first.