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A drug that could prevent the leading cause Johnson Outboard Marine Parts blindness in the Western world has shown great promise in early tests. More than 500,000 people in the UK have irreversible blindness caused by macular Writing Effective White Papers and it Designer Juniors Jeans On Sale estimated that one third of the population could be affected by 2070. What is exciting about the research published yesterday by a team from the University of Utah School of Medicine is that it works in a fundamentally different way to existing treatments, which often fail to work in patients with the most aggressive form of the 1,army Fatigues Dog Tags And Jewelry,1 There are two types of macular degeneration, a "dry" form that is more common and occurs Black High Heel Shoes cells in the retina stop working and a more aggressive wet form caused by the growth of new blood vessels under the retina, which can leak to damage the macula, the portion of the eye responsible for fine, detailed central vision Now it seems that age-related macular degeneration, along with a form of blindness that affects diabetics for the same reason, can be reversed or even prevented by injecting the drugs that activate a protein called What Is A Health Savings Plan found in blood vessel cells, an American team announces in the journal Nature Medicine. Damage from both diseases was prevented and even reversed when Robo4 was used - inhibiting abnormal blood vessel growth and stabilising blood vessels to prevent leakage. "This discovery has significant implications for developing drugs that treat macular degeneration and diabetic retinopathy," says Dr Kang Zhang, coauthor. Robo4 was tested on mice that simulate age-related macular degeneration and diabetic retinopathy, according to Prof Dean Li senior author, who estimates that it could be tested on people in as few as five years. However, he said that "to move it clinically requires professionals in biotech and pharmaceutical companies - and the University of Utah is actively trying to encourage such collaboration." Prof Randall Olson, director of the University's John A Moran Eye Centre, says: "This is a major breakthrough in an area where the advances have been minimal." Existing drugs - Lucentis and Avastin - target, a protein called VEGF-A, that is believed to play a critical role in the formation of new blood Fishing License In Gulf Shores Alabama "This work may eventually help those patients, 70 per cent of those diagnosed with 'wet'- AMD, in which the current treatments are still ineffective," says Prof Pete Coffey of the Institute of Ophthalmology, London Prof Robin Ali, a colleague at the institute, Steury 1900 Cuddy Cabin "A treatment based on Robo4 may well prove to have certain advantages over existing treatments based on Lucentis or Avastin - or it might even be used in combination. However, a great deal more research and development is likely to be required before treatments based on this very exciting finding enters clinical trials." The study's ramifications go beyond eye diseases. Serious infections such as SARS (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome), a pneumonia like illness, kill people when an infection makes blood vessels leaky, allowing fluids to enter the lungs. Tumours Craft Room Organization Ideas blood vessel growth to feed on nutrients and grow. Although this study did not prove Robo4 would treat those diseases, Prof Li believes it merits further study. Definition Of Public Health Assistance diseases are caused by injury or inflammation destabilising blood vessels and causing them to leak fluid into adjacent tissues as well," said Li, professor of internal medicine and an investigator with the University's Program in Human Molecular Biology and Genetics. "We found a natural pathway - the Robo4 pathway - that counterattacks this by stabilising blood vessels." Age-related macular degeneration is the most common cause of legal blindness in people age 65 or older and is expected to become an increasingly common and costly health issue as the number of older people increases. Diabetic retinopathy is the most common cause of legal blindness in working-age people.