A gel that’s injected into the eye has been developed to treat the most common cause of sight loss in the over-50s, for which there are no current treatments.
The jab contains donated umbilical cord blood and is designed to rejuvenate cells in the retina, the light-sensitive patch at the back of the eye.
The treatment is for dry age-related macular degeneration (AMD) which occurs when deposits called drusen – made largely of waste products – build up in the retina, while the macula, the central area of the retina, thins, leading to a gradual loss of central vision.
Early results from ongoing trials show that the macula becomes thicker in eyes treated with the gel, suggesting it could slow degeneration and vision loss. An estimated 700,000 people in the UK have AMD. There are two types: wet and dry, but around 90 per cent of cases involve dry AMD, which typically develops gradually. Symptoms may include visual distortions, such as straight lines seeming bent, and reduced central vision which can make it harder to see faces, read, drive, or do close-up work.
This can develop into wet AMD, when blood vessels grow into the macula, leaking blood and fluid, which can lead to rapid loss of vision over months or even days. There is treatment for wet AMD, with regular injections of a drug to halt the development of new blood vessels, but these won’t restore vision.
For dry AMD, there’s no treatment, although vision aids such as magnifiers, can help.
For the new ongoing trial, researchers from the Fondazione Policlinico Universitario in Rome, are giving jabs of platelet-rich plasma (PRP) taken from donated cord blood to 36 patients with early stage AMD.
PRP is a mixture of blood cells (called platelets) and plasma, the liquid element of blood, and is made by spinning blood at high speed, producing a jellified liquid.
Platelets contain growth factors that help to heal wounds and repair damage to cells and PRP jabs have been used for a number of conditions, including sports injuries and hair loss, since the 1970s.
Cord blood is particularly rich in platelets and growth factors and also contains higher levels of anti-inflammatory compounds. Inflammation is thought to be implicated in the death of cells in the retina in dry AMD and previous studies have shown AMD patients have higher blood levels of C-reactive protein, a marker for inflammation.
All 36 patients in the trial will receive between four and 12 injections of the PRP into one eye. The other eye will have a sham injection – to act as a comparison for assessing the treatment’s effects.
An earlier trial involving 13 patients, to assess the safety of the injections, found none had any side-effects or complications and after six months, the macula of the untreated eyes was thinner than that in the treated eyes. The full results will appear in the November issue of Ophthalmology Science.
Dr Gwyn Williams, a consultant ophthalmologist at Swansea Bay University Health Board and Singleton Hospital, says existing treatments for other eye conditions use tissue taken from the placenta, adding: ‘The technology here is very much bespoke’.
‘Effective treatment has existed for wet AMD for two decades but so far there is nothing there for the far commoner dry AMD patient. This is interesting research.’
- Curcumin, the main active ingredient in turmeric, may help treat age-related macular degeneration (AMD). The Journal of Personalised Medicine reports the compound has promising effects in animal and lab research – it’s thought it reduces inflammation and so prevents the death of cells in the retina.
