St Paul's Eye Appeal

Research - Molecular biology of the eye

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The Foundation for the Prevention of Blindness was established in 1991 to fund medical research into common causes of blindness. Its creation has brought together specialist ophthalmic researchers from the University of Liverpool and ophthalmic clinicians from the world-renowned St Paul's Eye Unit.

Our specialist teams have been instrumental in paving the way to understanding the biology of the cells that enable us to see. Historically, medicine has been very much aimed at treating the symptoms of the disease. Given the current breakthroughs that are now being made in understanding the molecular makeup of a cell, we are confident that we will be able in the future to actually change the behaviour of the cells in the eye and therefore to directly address the causes of the sight threatening diseases.

The thrust of our research lies in understanding the building blocks of the very specialized and unique cells in our eyes. The comparison of this molecular blue print of a healthy cell with that of a diseased cell allows us to reveal intricate details of mechanisms of eye diseases. We believe that this knowledge in turn will help us find ways to treat people with a wider range of surgical and drug treatments to suit the individual and the disease.

The complexity of the human eye is based on the many thousands of different cell structures that allow us to see. We know that proteins are the workers in each and every cell, we also know there are more than 30,000 proteins and depending on which proteins work together determines the type of work the cells do - i.e. muscle cell proteins are different from those in the cells of the eye. Our specialist researchers, led by Dr Luminita Paraoan and Professor Ian Grierson have already started to look closely at specific sets of proteins and active genes that were discovered to play important roles in ocular pigmented cells.

One type of pigmented cell specific to the eye that is studied by our researchers is the Retinal Pigment Epithelium (RPE). RPE is a monolayer of cells that lie at the back of the eye behind the cells sensitive to light in the retina, called the photoreceptors. The photoreceptors convert light into an electric signal, which then travels along the optic nerve to the brain enabling us to see. The photoreceptors can only work if they are continually nurtured. Their nursemaid is the RPE.

RPE cells are working day-in day-out to keep the light sensitive photoreceptor cells fresh and healthy and most remarkably these cells never renew themselves staying with us throughout life. Another function of the RPE cells is to absorb light so that there is no light reflection in the eye, which would distort vision.

Not surprisingly, if RPE cells become unhealthy, the photoreceptors are directly affected and cease working, leading to loss of sight. Indeed a range of eye diseases are caused by a failing RPE - among these is the most common cause of blindness in the Western world, age-related macular degeneration (AMD). AMD affects 25 million people worldwide and, with an ever aging population, this figure is set to triple by 2036. Other less common types of macular degeneration, which are hereditary and can affect younger people, are Best's disease, Stargardt's disease, and Sorsby's disease.

Our researchers have begun a robust research programme aimed to discover the genetic makeup of both healthy and diseased ocular pigmented cells by looking at samples taken from many donors. The aim is to 'profile the cells' or to identify the sets of proteins that are active in the cells and to reveal how they interact in maintaining the cells in their functional state. Analysis of the differences in these profiles shows us what goes wrong in cells affected by various eye diseases. The results of this research will be instrumental in helping us develop new treatments aiming to restore the functional balance in eye cells by innovative means such as gene therapy and transfections.

We have to analyze thousands of genes and proteins in order to add as much detail as possible to the molecular profile of the cells studied. It goes without further saying that this is not a mere task. To do this work effectively and to enable new treatments to be developed requires an investment of more specialist cell biologists and providing them with the tools to study many different codes at once.

Additional staff and some equipment is required to move forward effectively in achieving these research objectives. For example, one such piece of equipment of highest priority is a Real-Time PCR machine MX3000P. This is a proven tool of measuring gene activity by providing sensitive quantitative analysis of templates that cells use to make specific proteins. This proposed equipment is of direct and immediate use and required to increase our research ability.

Support for any individual post or piece of equipment will allow significant progress to be made as we would be able to directly and immediately increase our research ability. The researchers and equipment would be situated in the newly refurbished molecular biology lab where the molecular eye research is currently being performed.

As St Paul's Eye Unit treats over 90,000 people each year we are well placed to carry out this pioneering research to look at many profiles of a healthy cell to an unhealthy cell for a wide variety of sight threatening diseases.

Our researchers have over 25 years experience in researching ocular pigmented cells. Their enthusiasm and determination to develop new treatments is fuelled by the belief that their expertise and highly distinguished track record in cell biology places them in the best position to help the many million people who suffer sight-threatening diseases now and well into the future.