Researchers to investigate non-invasive ROP treatment
A two-year $430K grant from the National Eye Institute will enable Department of Ophthalmology researchers Mike Iuvone, PhD and Jeff Boatright, PhD to conduct proof-of-concept studies for a novel treatment for retinopathy of prematurity (ROP). The non-invasive approach is outlined in their proposal Atypical opsins and the OIR model of retinopathy of prematurity,
which was approved for funding earlier this summer.
While advances in neonatal care have increasingly enabled physicians to save premature infants, other health issues, including ROP, can persist. Retinopathy of prematurity is a retinal disease characterized by aberrant vascular and neural development. Premature infants are at higher risk for ROP because the oxygen-rich environment of neonatal incubators, where they spend their first hours of life, alter retinal vascular development in ways that lead to pathological neovascularization when these infants are returned to room air.
Iuvone and Boatright's research seeks to evaluate the efficacy of protecting retinal vascular development in mice undergoing oxygen-induced retinopathy (OIR) by varying their exposure to different types of environmental light.
Their previous research, funded by the Abraham J. and Phyllis Katz Foundation, suggests that stimulation of OPN4-VEGFA blue light response pathways protect retinal vascular development. Similarly, stimulation of the OPN5_dopamine-VEGFR2 violet light response pathways is thought to worsen retinopathy. Outcomes of this research that indicate simple wavelength-specific retinal protection would have broad implications for prenatal and neonatal eye care, including the development of an innovative, non-invasive preventative treatment for ROP.