Revolutionary anti-ceramide immunotherapy could prevent blindness in diabetic patients

People with diabetes face a variety of health challenges as they work to manage their chronic disease, but one of the biggest concerns is the risk of losing vision due to a condition called diabetic retinopathy.

Researchers at the University of Oklahoma Health Sciences and Memorial Sloan Kettering (MSK) Cancer Center are investigating a new, innovative treatment that could change outcomes for patients with diabetic retinopathy. Julia Busick, PhD, professor and chair of the Department of Biochemistry and Physiology, in collaboration with Richard Kolesnick, M.D., PhD, of the MSK Cancer Center, recently published a paper in the journal Neurology. Cell metabolism It details how anti-ceramide immunotherapy can address the root cause of the disease and halt the progression to blindness earlier than conventional treatments.

As diabetes increases, so do complications. One-third of adults over 40 with diabetes have retinopathy. If left untreated, diabetic retinopathy can lead to blindness. Vision loss is one of the most feared complications for people with diabetes.”

Julia Busick, PhD, Professor and Chair of the Department of Biochemistry and Physiology

This blindness is caused by a buildup of hemorrhaged lipids, or fatty compounds. These start out as dark spots in the field of vision, but as they grow, they become sight-threatening and eventually lead to blindness. There are currently two treatments for diabetic retinopathy, both of which have serious health implications and are fairly invasive: one uses a laser to burn the blood vessels to stop the bleeding, while the other is an injection directly into the eye to halt the progression of the disease. According to Busic, these treatments are only effective sometimes.

Researchers are working on groundbreaking new therapies that could address the underlying causes of diabetic retinopathy. Continuing the work she began at Michigan State University, Busick took a closer look at lipids, specifically the lipid pathways in the eye’s retina and how they are affected by diabetes. She and her team discovered that certain highly harmful lipids, namely ceramides, are present in the eyes of patients with diabetic retinopathy. They then discovered that these ceramides, after stimulation by another type of cell, namely cytokines, attach to large domains and trigger harmful inflammatory signals in cells of the eye. This triggers cell death and the progression of diabetic retinopathy.

Then, in collaboration with the Kolesnick lab at MSK Cancer Center, Busik’s team created antibodies against these lipids to prevent ceramide buildup and send damaging signals to healthy cells in the retina.The work has shown great promise in animal and cell culture models.

Perhaps the most important advance in current treatments is addressing the root cause of the disease, rather than just blocking its progression at the later symptomatic or vision-loss stages, Busic explains. It can also be administered systemically, so there’s no need to inject it into the eye. Due to invasiveness and safety concerns, currently available treatments are only used in the very late stages of the disease, when it becomes sight-threatening.

“If we had a systemically safe treatment, we could treat patients much earlier, when they’re just starting to progress through the disease, and prevent it from reaching a terminal stage,” Busick said.