People with diabetes face a number of potential health complications, including the risk of vision loss through diabetic retinopathy, the leading cause of new cases of legal blindness in adults ages 20 through 74. Researchers from the University of Oklahoma (OU) and Memorial Sloan Kettering (MSK) Cancer Center have been “studying a new revolutionary treatment…that could change the prognosis for these patients.” A paper recently published in the journal Cell Metabolism details how anti-ceramide (a type of lipid or fatty acid) immunotherapy can target the root cause of the disease and stop its “progression toward blindness at an earlier stage than previous treatments.” Vision loss from diabetic retinopathy results from damage to blood vessels in the eye, leading to dark spots in the visual field and, left untreated, can lead to blindness from retinal detachment. Two treatments currently exist for diabetic retinopathy; one involves lasers that burn the blood vessels to stop the hemorrhaging, another involves injections directly into the eye to stop the disease progression. These treatments can only be used once the disease has progressed. The researchers are working on a new treatment suggested through this research that “could address the root cause of diabetic retinopathy…as opposed to late symptoms and stopping progression at the vision-threatening stage.” Read more about this promising development on the webpages explaining that NEI research points to potential immunotherapy option for diabetic retinopathy and OU’s reporting on a Potential New Treatment Option for Diabetic Retinopathy. Information on the particular type of lipids targeted in the study are available on the Wikipedia page on Ceramide. For the full study, read the Cell Metabolism journal article reporting that Diabetic retinopathy is a ceramidopathy reversible by anti-ceramide immunotherapy.
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