Canada’s Ingenuity Lab looks for the causes of cataract formation and preventive treatment

The Ingenuity Lab (based in Alberta) is pursuing three queries in its Health portfolio,

WHAT IF we could develop a way to replace lost neurological functions?
WHAT IF we can improve the delivery of oral vaccinations to maximize the efficiency of absorption?
WHAT IF we can treat cataracts without surgery?

Here’s how they describe the situation regarding sight and cataracts, from the WHAT IF we can treat cataracts without surgery? webpage,

Cataracts is an aggregation of lens proteins that lead to a decrease in vision. [emphasis mine] It is one of the biggest challenges in ophthalmic research due to accessibility to the lens and highly structured proteins in the lens that make it difficult to treat.

It is estimated that 88 per cent of people older than 75 years will have some form of this condition which is the leading cause of blindness worldwide. Currently, there are more than 2.5 million Canadians who are affected by cataracts and that number is expected to double by 2031.

While cataract surgery remains an effective option for many, Ingenuity researchers have their sights set on a new model of cataract treatment that does not rely on surgical intervention, by engineering molecules that would have capabilities to detect, inhibit and restore the affected proteins in the lens. The technology would also prevent further formation of the aggregate proteins that decrease vision.

This potential technology is particularly exciting for developing nations where surgical access is often limited and holds great promise for ageing populations around the world.

I’d never previously noticed ‘cataracts’ used with the singular version of a verb. It seems this is a matter for some debate as per this 2007 discussion Wordreference.com resulting in a ‘ymmv’ (your mileage may vary) situation with an edge given to the use of the plural version of the verb. Personally, I prefer the plural with ‘cataracts’.

Getting back to Ingenuity Lab and its ‘cataracts’ query, there’s a July 4, 2014 Nanowerk Spotlight article written by someone from Ingenuity Lab describing their latest developments,

At Ingenuity Lab in Edmonton, a multidisciplinary team of researchers with partners in Alberta, U.S.A. and Nepal, are busy trying to understand the fundamental mechanisms of how the aggregates that cause cataracts form, and how nanotechnology may be used to prevent or at least inhibit them.

Researchers are taking lessons learned from earlier discoveries and have honed in on target specific peptide screening techniques in the hopes that they will provide a much-needed solution for communities around the world. The work aims to harness the specific binding abilities of peptides for recognition of crystallin protein aggregates7, as well as the unique peptide characteristics that influence stabilization of protein/aggregate and activity depending on the binding region8.

This research is encouraging because it recognizes the potential of crystallin specific peptides not only as drug delivery mediators but also as aggregation inhibitory molecules. Using combinatorial biology approaches, the team has is working to select peptides in both recombinant and ex vivo systems. Once the specific peptides are chosen, their effect on the aggregation process is will be carefully followed by in-situ time sequenced atomic force microscopy visualizations. These peptides will then be screened for particular inhibitory properties, considered as a potential therapeutical agent and evaluated on lens tissue and animal models at the state-of-the art lab in Alberta.

An added benefit to identifying peptides that bind to crystallin aggregates, is that their application extends beyond the treatment of cataract. While the hope and goal is that the peptides themselves will serve as a biologically based, mild, non-invasive treatment, these molecules could also serve to selectively target affected areas of the lens for delivery of other therapies.

The Nanowerk Spotlight article includes more information about the condition. about eyes, references, and an image illustrating the effects of peptides.

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