Disruption of glucose transport to rods and cones causing vision loss in retinitis pigmentosa

Retinitis pigmentosa (RP) is a common hereditary eye condition that causes progressive deterioration of rod cells, resulting in reduced peripheral vision and night vision. Subsequent loss of cone photoreceptors results in loss of high-resolution vision of daylight and colors.

Ophthalmology researchers at the University of Louisville discovered that vision loss due to RA was the result of a disruption of the flow of glucose feeding to rods and cones. This disturbance leads to starvation of photoreceptors.

In the research published today in Cell reports, researchers, led by Douglas C. Dean, Ph.D., and Wei Wang, MD, Ph.D., of the Department of Ophthalmology and Science at UofL University, have described metabolic changes that cause a decrease in the availability of glucose in the blood. cells.

As research helps to better understand the evolution of RA, this knowledge could lead to therapies that may slow or stop this process before rods and cones are destroyed. In addition to the relevance for PR, the researchers found that failure of glucose metabolism in RA was similar to changes seen in lung cancer and that it might be useful to develop therapeutic targets for both diseases. .

"Interestingly, these metabolic changes seem similar to those we are also studying in other studies of lung cancer in the laboratory," Dean said. "Lung cancer and retinal neurons use glucose as the main source of their metabolism.The attack of glucose utilization is a major strategy in the fight against lung cancer." This unexpected link in the metabolism of retinal cancer and lung cancer has led us to badociate these seemingly unrelated systems with the search for common drugs that target both lung cancer and retinal degeneration. "

RP is an inherited disease in which photoreceptor cells of the retina – rods and cones – deteriorate over time. Photoreceptors absorb and convert light into electrical signals, which are sent to the brain by the optic nerve. Sticks, located in the outer regions of the retina, allow peripheral vision and low light. The cones, located mainly in the central part of the retina, allow the perception of colors and visual details.

In PR, rods deteriorate first, resulting in peripheral vision loss and poor light usually badociated with the disease. In later stages, the cones also deteriorate. Without cone function, RP patients lose vision in the high-resolution daylight required for reading, facial recognition, and driving. As a result, this phase of vision loss due to RA is more debilitating than night vision or peripheral vision loss. PR affects 1 in 4,000 people worldwide.