Developing novel gene therapy for treatment of glaucoma

Chief Investigator

Dr  Colin Chu

Institution

University of Bristol

Dates

Feb-2016 to May-2017

Funding Stream

Above and Beyond Autumn 2015

Amount

£19,583

Summary

Glaucoma is the leading cause of irreversible visual loss worldwide and an estimated 11.2 million people will be completely blind from the disease by 2020. Clinical trials have shown that reducing the pressure in the eye can prevent loss of vision from the commonest forms of glaucoma. Treatment using eye drops has been available for many years, but they are expensive, have side-effects, need lifelong use and often don't reduce the pressure enough. Surgery is effective, but requires highly trained surgeons, is potentially high risk, has a relatively long recovery period and can fail over time. More effective treatments are needed, particularly for use in the developing world where these same limitations are prohibitive.

The aim of this study is to develop novel gene therapy for the treatment of glaucoma. Gene therapy using engineered viruses to re-programme cells of the eye has been shown to be safe in recent clinical trials.  In theory this approach as a treatment could allow lifelong reduction in eye pressure following a single injection.