Researchers in Belfast are embarking on a major project aimed at using the latest technologies to save the sight of people with diabetes, it was announced today.
The researchers are leading a Europe-wide project aimed at developing the use of stem cells to the blood vessels of the eye.
The European Union has pumped some six million Euros in the project, which also involves researchers in Ireland, Germany, the Netherlands, Denmark, Portugal and the USA.
Professor Alan Stitt, director of the Centre for Vision and Vascular Science at Queen’s University, Belfast, Northern Ireland, said: "The impact could be profound for patients, because regeneration of damaged retina could prevent progression of diabetic retinopathy and reduce the risk of vision loss."
He explained: "The Queen’s component of the study involves investigating the potential of a unique stem cell population to promote repair of damaged blood vessels in the retina during diabetes.
“Currently available treatments for diabetic retinopathy are not always satisfactory. They focus on end-stages of the disease, carry many side effects and fail to address the root causes of the condition.
"A novel, alternative therapeutic approach is to harness adult stem cells to promote regeneration of the damaged retinal blood vessels and thereby prevent and/or reverse retinopathy.”
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