Drug treatment with oxysterol compound may reduce lens opacity in cataract patients

A revolutionary new treatment for cataract has shown extremely positive results in laboratory tests, giving hope that the condition, that currently can only be cured with surgery, could soon be treated with drugs.

The results have been published today in the peer-reviewed journal Investigative Ophthalmology and Visual Science.

Cataract is a clouding of the eye lens that develops over time and affects the quality of vision. It is caused by a disorganisation of the proteins in the lens that leads to clumps of protein forming that scatter light and severely reduce transmission to the retina. Cataracts cause vision loss and blindness for millions of people worldwide.

A team of international scientists, led by Professor Barbara Pierscionek, Deputy Dean (Research and Innovation) in the Faculty of Health, Education, Medicine and Social Care at Anglia Ruskin University (ARU), have been carrying out advanced optical tests on an oxysterol compound that had been proposed as an anti-cataract drug.

In laboratory trials, treatment with the oxysterol compound VP1-001 showed an improvement in refractive index profiles-a key optical parameter that is needed to maintain high focusing capacity-in 61% of lenses. This means that the protein organisation of the lens is being restored, resulting in the lens being better able to focus. This was supported by a reduction in lens opacity in 46% of cases.