![]() We’re looking forward to seeing what the team discovers next. This means they can be more confident in their findings, and any future clinical trials of their treatment will be more reliable.ĭr Lechner’s research could help to develop new treatments to help slow the progression of retinopathy in its early stages, and protect people living with diabetes from this devastating complication. Traditionally, only male mice have been studied in diabetes research, as well as in many other medical fields. This is a problem when medications are studied in clinical trials in people, as there are potentially dangerous gaps in our knowledge of how treatments might affect women.īut Dr Lechner and her team have found a way to use female mice in their research as well. Next, the team plans to study these cells more closely to understand exactly how APC protects them.ĭr Lechner has also started testing APC in mice with diabetes. So far the team have found that treating the lab-grown endothelial cells with APC can protect them, as it seems to strengthen the connections between the inside and outside of the cells. They’ve been doing this by growing endothelial cells in the lab and exposing them to high levels of sugar, to mimic the damage seen in people living with diabetes. With our funding, Dr Judith Lechner and her team at Queen’s University Belfast have been testing how effective APC is at reducing the damage to endothelial cells in retinopathy. ![]() Activated Protein C (APC) is a protein that can protect and repair endothelial cells in other conditions, such as sepsis or stroke. We also need a way to protect endothelial cells from the damage caused by high blood sugar levels. Ultimately, this could be life-changing for people with diabetes with early-stage retinopathy, or who current retinopathy treatments don’t work for. Professors Moss and Greenwood’s research is also a step towards testing new, anti-LRG1 treatments in people with retinopathy. Revealing the impact of LRG1 gives us a better insight into how pericyte damage and sight loss can develop in people with diabetes. By treating mice with diabetes with a new treatment that blocks the activity of LRG1, they were able to protect the mice’s eyes from retinopathy damage. The team found that high blood sugar levels can cause high levels of LRG1, and having too much LRG1 is the first domino in the chain of events leading to the downfall of pericytes and blood vessels in the eye. With our funding, the team been working out the exact role LRG1 plays. Professors Stephen Moss and John Greenwood and their team at University College London have found that a protein in the retina, called LRG1, contributes to blood vessel damage that happens early on in retinopathy. So we critically need to understand more about how diabetic retinopathy is triggered, and to develop innovative new treatments that target it as soon as it’s detected. While screening can identify this damage early on, current treatments are only effective once retinopathy has progressed to a later stage, meaning the condition can’t be treated until vision is affected. Our research in the 1980s pioneered the UK’s first eye screening programme for people living with diabetes, which continues to help us to spot early signs of retinopathy and intervene sooner. T his causes blood vessels in the back of the eye, called the retina, to become leaky and damaged. When retinopathy develops, the pericytes stop working properly and eventually die. When using a search engine such as Google, Bing or Yahoo check the safe search settings where you can exclude adult content sites from your search results Īsk your internet service provider if they offer additional filters īe responsible, know what your children are doing online.Blood vessels are mainly made up of two types of cells: endothelial cells that line the vessel wall, and pericytes that wrap around and support the endothelial cells. Use family filters of your operating systems and/or browsers Other steps you can take to protect your children are: More information about the RTA Label and compatible services can be found here. Parental tools that are compatible with the RTA label will block access to this site. We use the "Restricted To Adults" (RTA) website label to better enable parental filtering. Protect your children from adult content and block access to this site by using parental controls. ![]() PARENTS, PLEASE BE ADVISED: If you are a parent, it is your responsibility to keep any age-restricted content from being displayed to your children or wards. ![]() Furthermore, you represent and warrant that you will not allow any minor access to this site or services. This website should only be accessed if you are at least 18 years old or of legal age to view such material in your local jurisdiction, whichever is greater. You are about to enter a website that contains explicit material (pornography).
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