Story Created:
Jul 1, 2009 at 5:23 PM CST
Story Updated:
Jul 2, 2009 at 12:34 PM CST
Oklahoma City -- Local researchers may have developed a way to prevent blindness in people with diabetes. KSBI-TV's Kealey McIntire has details.
The announcement made at the University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center means a lot to the researchers involved, but it holds even more significance to patients like Tracey Corder. Corder has managed diabetes for 29 of his 30 years.
"A healthy lifestyle, working out, running, exercising, watching what you eat are things that diabetics do everyday. But when it gets to a point of worrying about eyesight, it becomes more of a battle which you have to fight," says Corder.
Doctors at the Harold Hamm Oklahoma Diabetes Center have developed a way to help people like Corder fight to keep their vision.
The blood vessels in the eye of a patient with diabetes can swell over time, or abnormal blood vessels will grow, which can lead to blindness.
An imbalance causes the diabetic retinopathy. To restore balance, researchers deliver a natural compound to the cells using nanoparticle technology, which they found reduced inflammation and vascular leakage allowing patients to keep their vision.
"We believe it's a promising drug candidate, but I need to make it clear, it's not a drug yet. We just got a successful animal trial. It needs more FDA standard safety tests and a clinical trial," says Dr. Jay Ma, principal investigator and research partner at the Harold Hamm Oklahoma Diabetes Center.
Ma says it will take a few years, but they soon hope to be able to offer treatment in the form of eye drops.
Corder knows the treatment wouldn't end the battle with diabetes, but at least someone is helping him fight.
"Not to say that that lifestyle will change, that I can be less careful with my diabetes. But I just know that if something else does happen then there's something there that can help," says Corder.
The findings are featured in this month's addition of the American Diabetes Association's publication of Diabetes.
