Retinal disease healed through research
Researchers from a Michigan university in the United States have recently found a cure for vision disorders in patients with autoimmune retinopathy. This disease rare of the retina, is not easy to detect and makes people lose their sight.
But an experiment on patients worked: their vision improved when they took a drug that suppresses their immune defenses, an immunosuppressant. Of 30 patients with autoimmune retinopathy, 21 experienced improvements after taking this drug (called immunosuppression therapy).
The criteria for improving vision were precise: the ability to read two lines of text afterwards, or the gain of at least 25% of the vision. The results of this research come from the largest study on the subject ever done, and are published in the April issue of the journalArchives of ophtalmology.
Following these remarkable observations, the researchers wish to detect the biological markers that make it possible to identify the patients who can benefit from the treatment. "These results run contrary to the usual beliefs that autoimmune retinopathy is impossible to treat," says John Heckenlively, an international expert on retinal dystrophies.
"It is not easy to identify patients with autoimmune retinopathy because the symptoms are similar to others diseases degeneration of the retina ", explains John Heckenlively. This expert wants to clarify that confusion is often between patients with autoimmune retinopathy and those with retinal pigmentation, another disease which makes you blind.
As we said earlier, autoimmune retinopathy is difficult to diagnose. To do this, blood tests are not enough to detect it in a patient, just like the fact that another family member has autoimmune disorders. It is necessary to observe meticulously all the symptoms in order to be able to affirm if it is well this disease who is involved.
But the hope is there, since following the success of immunosuppression therapy, researchers are already thinking of continuing their analyzes to evaluate the precise dose of treatment to be inoculated to patients to treat autoimmune retinopathy.
