More on the BAP in Glaucoma story.
some excerpts from that Paper
Targeting amyloid-beta in glaucoma treatment
Although glaucoma, a major cause of blindness worldwide, is commonly linked to raised intraocular pressure (IOP), the precise means by which IOP may lead to the irreversible destruction of retinal ganglion cells (RGCs, which are the nerve cells that transfer visual information from the eye to the brain) is far from clear. Indeed, interpretation of the mechanism is further complicated by the fact that damage can also occur at low IOP. Thus, for example, recent evidence indicates progressive visual-field loss in patients despite normalization of IOP with pressure-lowering treatment strategies, which means that an alternative approach to the treatment of glaucoma is urgently needed.
The principal step leading to irreversible loss of vision in glaucoma is RGC apoptosis [cell death], and the question is what mechanisms precede this cell death. Raised IOP in experimental glaucoma models can clearly precipitate RGC apoptosis whatever the actual interveningsteps. However, the presence of progressive glaucomatous damage in patients with normalized IOP has focused a growing body of work on alternative strategies to those regulating IOP and especially approaches targeting the cellular mechanisms leading to apoptosis."
"Our work demonstrates a potential neuroprotective strategy for glaucoma. At present in the field of glaucoma, there is a clear lack of therapies that target the actual causative cellular processes of glaucoma. Targeting Amyloid-Beta specifically in the eye will provide a localized therapy limiting generalized side effects associated with systemic administration. Furthermore, it will provide treatment only to those areas with degenerating activity.
In conclusion, we have shown that Amyloid-Beta is a likely mediator of pressure-induced RGC death and that neutralizing antibodies to Amyloid-Beta can significantly delay and attenuate RGC apoptosis inexperimental glaucoma. Perhaps the most exciting finding of the work has been that combination therapy, targeting three different aspects of the Amyloid-Beta pathway, produced the maximal reduction of RGC apoptosis (_80%). These findings suggest that by manipulating the signaling pathways that drive RGC apoptosis, it may be possible to protect RGCs from degeneration and loss in glaucoma. In this context, we have shown that Amyloid-Beta could be a particularly suitable target for therapeutic intervention in the eye, in an area in clear need of novel and cellular-based neuroprotective strategies."
Market Data 
Markets 
AI
