Dr Lalit Pukhrambam at Wayne State University School of Medicine is researching how to find a cure for the blinding eye disease of diabetic retinopathy by targeting a protein called thioredoxin-interacting protein (TXNIP), as we find out here
By way of an introduction, we know that diabetic retinopathy (DR) is one of several organ complications of diabetes mellitus – a progressive microvascular disease leading to blindness. Unfortunately, the number of patients with diabetes and DR will increase enormously in the future and as such, the familial and societal economic burden is enormous. Sadly, there is no cure or preventive measures to tackle this devastating eye disease.
While current treatment methods include laser coagulation and anti-VEGF antibody injection in the vitreous, most patients don’t respond to these treatments. Therefore, the author underlines the urgent need for the identification of the new pathogenic gene(s) and an understanding of the molecular and biochemical pathways in DR. It’s, therefore, very fitting that Wayne State University School of Medicine is actively working to identify new targets and innovative therapies.
This in-depth analysis also features special sections on the thioredoxin-interacting protein (TXNIP), TXNIP in mitophagy-lysosome axis dysregulation, as well as transcription factor EB (TFEB) and the CLEAR Network. The author concludes by saying that current innovative research in the U.S. and around the globe is promising to find a cure for this blinding eye disease.
I urge you to read more about the excellent work coming from Wayne State University School of Medicine in this most informative piece of analysis.