Glaucoma is the second leading cause of irreversible blindness in the United States and the leading cause among African-Americas. University of Iowa researchers have been awarded a nearly $3.6 million grant to study the genetics and disease processes involved in glaucoma.
John Finger, MD, the study's principal investigator and ophthalmologist at University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics, talks about the study:
What is glaucoma?
Glaucoma is a disease of the optic nerve. This is the nerve that carries images from the eyes to the brain. Damage to the optic nerve can cause vision loss. Usually, glaucoma affects the peripheral vision, but central vision can also be affected, especially in more severe cases.
What are the symptoms of glaucoma?
In the early stages there are no symptoms that can be easily recognized. However, glaucoma can be detected with a standard eye examination. Eye doctors can look for damage to the optic nerve, test peripheral vision, and measure pressure in the eye to see who may be at greatest risk for getting glaucoma.
You will be looking at the genetics of glaucoma as part of your study. Is glaucoma always an inherited eye disease?
Previous research has shown that heredity does play an important role in determining who develops glaucoma. Glaucoma does tend to run in families; however, not all cases have a strong family history of disease.
What role will genetics play in this study?
Genetics will play a central role in our research. There are two parts to our research program:
- We'll be studying the genes of more than 1,000 patients who are part of a treatment trial that was sponsored by the National Institutes of Health. This is the Ocular Hypertension Treatment study. We'll be studying patients in this treatment trial to identify which genes put us at greatest risk for developing glaucoma.
- Michael Anderson, MD, will be conducting similar experiments to search for glaucoma genes with studies of mice.
Can glaucoma be treated?
There are some good treatments for glaucoma when it's discovered early. Medicated eye drops are often very effective at slowing or stopping the process of glaucoma. When additional therapy is needed, laser treatments and surgeries are also available.
Is glaucoma curable?
We have effective treatments for glaucoma, but in 2009, there's no cure. Unfortunately, once vision is lost due to glaucoma, it cannot be recovered. That's why it's very important to have early detection and early treatment to prevent vision loss in this disease.
What will your study look at regarding the disease process of glaucoma?
The overall goal of our study is to identify genes that put one at risk for glaucoma. It's our hope that such discoveries will provide new clues about how glaucoma is caused at the most basic molecular level.
Will you be recruiting people who currently have glaucoma to participate in this study?
As I mentioned, our study focuses on patients that were previously enrolled in the Ocular Hypertension Treatment study. This study is closed and so no new patients are being enrolled.
What do you hope to discover as part of this five-year study?
It's our goal to identify new genetic risk factors for glaucoma. We hope that these discoveries will provide new information about the basic causes of glaucoma, and in the future, that these discoveries may provide new ideas about how to treat or even prevent vision loss from glaucoma. |
