Queen’s look into vision loss illness

The leading cause of vision loss in the elderly occurs when the central region of the retina, the macula deteriorates. This is known as age-related macular degeneration or AMD

Now, Queen’s Professor Anne Hughes and her team in Medical Genetics and Vision Sciences at the Royal Victoria Hospital have reported the risk of AMD in old age can be predicted from a combination of genes and smoking levels.

Professor Hughes said: “The macula is the tissue at the back of the eye that converts light into electrical messages and sends them into the brain. AMD destroys the central vision that is needed for reading and driving, leaving only dim, blurred images or a black hole at the centre of vision.

“In our study of 401 AMD patients and 266 people with good vision, we found it is possible to predict an individual’s risk of developing AMD. We asked each person about their smoking status and catalogued inherited sequence variations within their DNA. We also examined groups of genetic variants known as haplotypes which are present on chromosomes.

“Our research confirmed the two most important gene regions that affect AMD risk. Until we learn more about how these genes act, it will be difficult to prevent the degeneration of the macula. What is clear in the meantime though, is that those at high genetic risk of AMD should try to control their smoking.”

Professor Hughes added: “Our plans for the future include identifying additional AMD genes and explaining the pathways that are important for maintaining healthy eyes. Then it may become possible to prevent AMD or delay its onset.

“The results of this research provide physicians with a way to identify those at the highest genetic risk of developing AMD. They can then step up their efforts to persuade these people to avoid smoking, thereby more than halving their risk of becoming blind.

“In the future, when effective long term treatments for AMD become available, the risk scoring system could also help doctors decide which of their elderly patients should be monitored most intensively for the early signs of AMD. They can then be treated before their vision is irreversibly damaged.”

Media Contact

Lisa Mitchell alfa

More Information:

http://www.qub.ac.uk

All latest news from the category: Health and Medicine

This subject area encompasses research and studies in the field of human medicine.

Among the wide-ranging list of topics covered here are anesthesiology, anatomy, surgery, human genetics, hygiene and environmental medicine, internal medicine, neurology, pharmacology, physiology, urology and dental medicine.

Back to home

Comments (0)

Write a comment

Newest articles

Lighting up the future

New multidisciplinary research from the University of St Andrews could lead to more efficient televisions, computer screens and lighting. Researchers at the Organic Semiconductor Centre in the School of Physics and…

Researchers crack sugarcane’s complex genetic code

Sweet success: Scientists created a highly accurate reference genome for one of the most important modern crops and found a rare example of how genes confer disease resistance in plants….

Evolution of the most powerful ocean current on Earth

The Antarctic Circumpolar Current plays an important part in global overturning circulation, the exchange of heat and CO2 between the ocean and atmosphere, and the stability of Antarctica’s ice sheets….

Partners & Sponsors