New eye drops could cure cataracts

(Baonghean.vn)- Cataract is a condition in which the transparent lens becomes opaque, forming a "cloud" also known as a cataract, preventing light from entering the retina, leading to impaired vision.

Illustration of cataract disease, internet source.

According to statistics, cataracts account for half of the blind people worldwide. Currently, people can use surgery to treat effectively but the cost is expensive and requires surgeons to have a certain level of expertise. This is quite a difficult problem for developing countries, where poor patients still make up the majority.

Scientists in California, USA have just discovered a natural molecule called lanesterol that can cure cataracts and prevent the disease from recurring when patients use eye drops containing lanesterol daily. The experiment has been effectively applied on rabbits, and will soon be applied on dogs. It may be continued to be clinically tested on humans and promises to create a cheap, simple, and easy cataract treatment method for many people, especially in developing countries.

Researchers first noticed lanosterol’s ability to do this when they looked at two children who had congenital cataracts. Upon closer examination, they discovered that both had mutations in a gene needed to produce lanosterol. The researchers suspect that the molecule may prevent proteins in the lens from clumping together, forming cloudy areas in the eye.

In their first cell experiments, they confirmed their hypothesis about lanosterol's effects. Scientists believe that lanosterol is an important molecule in preventing protein clumping and holds new hope for treating cataracts.

However, "these are only preliminary findings," J. Fielding Hejtmancik, a scientist at the US National Eye Institute, commented in the journal Nature.

"Before any human trials, scientists will probably test other molecules to see if they might work better," he told AFP.

These initial results "cannot yet establish lanosterol as the single and best compound" for treating cataracts.

Vo Ngoc Trung

Source: Medical Daily