New Clues Found to Vision Loss in Macular Degeneration

A pathway has been identified that is responsible for the formation of atypical blood vessels which can lead to blindness in the case of macular degeneration. Researchers from the Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis reported in the journal Nature Communications that this immune-system dysfunction could be the primary mechanism for macular-degeneration based vision loss, spanning samples from the 1980s to the present day. “Our research increases our understanding of how specific immune cells can contribute to vision loss in macular degeneration, and it also may help us identify treatments by giving us a molecular pathway to target,” said the principal investigator of the study. “When we inhibit this pathway, we can alter the immune cells and interfere with abnormal blood vessel growth in mice. Doing so might open therapeutic avenues to halt vision loss or even restore sight in people who have macular degeneration, the leading cause of blindness in people over 50.” To learn more about this study, click here.