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Senior Citizen Health & Medicine
Possible Cure for Macular Degeneration May Be in
Sight with Endostatin
Major cause of blindness in senior citizens caused by
abnormal blood vessel growth
 Nov. 29, 2007 The 8 million Americans virtually
all senior citizens - at high risk for advanced age-related macular
degeneration received good news today from researchers from Harvard and
Japan who say that the experimental drug, endostatin, may be the cure. A
research report published in the December 2007 issue of The FASEB
Journal, describes how giving endostatin to mice significantly reduced
or eliminated abnormal blood vessel growth within the eye, which is
ultimately why the disease causes blindness.
Our study provides intriguing findings that may
lead to a better treatment of age-related macular degeneration, said
Alexander Marneros, the first author of the report, but clinical
studies in patients with age-related macular degeneration are still
necessary.
In this study, researchers describe testing the
effects of endostatin on mice lacking this naturally occurring
substance. The mice without endostatin were about three times more
likely to develop advanced age-related macular degeneration (AMD) than
normal mice. Then the researchers administered endostatin to both sets
of mice. In the mice lacking endostatin, the number of abnormal blood
vessels that cause AMD were reduced to normal levels. In control mice
with normal levels of endostatin, the number of abnormal blood vessels
were practically undetectable.
With Baby Boomers reaching advanced ages, new
treatments are desperately needed to keep age-related macular
degeneration from becoming a national epidemic, said Gerald Weissmann,
MD, Editor-in-Chief of The FASEB Journal. This research provides hope
for those at risk for blindness, and it gives everyone another glimpse
of how investments in molecular biology will ultimately pay off in terms
of new treatments and cures.
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Senior Citizen Politics
Drug
Company Wants to Force $2,000 Cancer Drug to Replace $40 Avastin
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Battle
is over treatment for macular degeneration |
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Sen. Kohl demands info on Genentech move
that could cost Medicare $3 billion annually for treating of
macular degeneration
Nov. 29, 2007 Sen. Herb Kohl (D-WI)
stepped to the front of the line late yesterday to intervene in
a proposed limit by Genentech in the availability of its cancer
drug Avastin to certain pharmaceutical compounding firms and
pharmacies. Some physicians have charged that Genentechs
intention in limiting Avastins availability is to boost sales
of Lucentis, a chemically-similar, yet far more expensive drug
also produced by Genentech and approved to treat macular
degeneration.
Read
more...
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AMD is a progressive disease that affects the part
of the eye that allows people to see fine details. The disease gradually
destroys sharp, central vision, and in advanced stages ultimately leads
to total blindness.
Abnormal blood vessel growth, also known as
angiogenesis, is a hallmark of advanced AMD. These faulty blood vessels
leak fluids and blood, causing catastrophic vision loss.
As the name implies, risk for age-related macular
degeneration increases with age, and 8 million people are considered to
be at high risk for the disease. Of these individuals, approximately 1
to 1.3 million will develop advanced AMD within the next five years.
Endostatin is an experimental drug, which is
currently being tested to stop cancer in people by restricting the
formation of abnormal blood vessels supply blood to tumors. Endostatin
is a protein in collagen, and while collagen is used in a range of
products for skin care to gelatin desserts, consumption or use of these
products does not have any effect on tumors or AMD.
Weissmann added, This research proves once and for
all that endostatin functions as the bodys own natural inhibitor of new
blood vessel growth as Judah Folkman of Harvard predicted.
Editors Notes:
The FASEB Journal (www.fasebj.org)
is published by the Federation of American Societies for Experimental
Biology (FASEB) and is consistently ranked among the top three biology
journals worldwide by the Institute for Scientific Information. FASEB
comprises 21 nonprofit societies with more than 80,000 members, making
it the largest coalition of biomedical research associations in the
United States. FASEB advances biological science through collaborative
advocacy for research policies that promote scientific progress and
education and lead to improvements in human health.
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