Grant: Collaborative Health Research Projects (NSERC partnered)

Ischemic retinopathies are diseases caused by obstruction of blood vessels that damage the retina. The retina is the part of the eye that possesses cells which sense light, as well as blood vessels that bring nutrients to these cells. Oxidant stress and inflammation are early intertwined common features of ischemic retinopathies, such as those associated with prematurity and diabetes, the two most common retinopathies, respectively of childhood and adults under the age of 65. Inflammation elicits abnormalities in these vessels causing leakage of intravascular fluids and obliteration of capillaries that cause deterioration of the retina resulting in vision loss. No cures exist presently for these diseases. Treatments typically aim to destroy abnormal blood vessels using laser photocoagulation. Attempts to use steroids and agents that arrest blood vessel growth (so called anti-VEGF therapy) have shown limited success, in part because they either exert modest anti-inflammatory effects or only tackle the late stage edema and pre-retinal neovascularization, without addressing the predisposing inflammation. The proposed research tackles the inflammatory aspect of ischemic retinopathy by targeting the interleukin-1 receptor (IL-1R) using novel compounds that interfere with the inflammatory process, prevent vessel destruction and lead to normalization of vessel density, without compromising local immune surveillance and cytoprotection. Our promising preliminary results with new IL-1R modulators merits further study to enhance their potential as novel therapeutics to treat these major vision-robbing diseases.