Results from a recent study reveal that people with high levels of a specific protein are more likely to contract age-related macular degeneration.

Gene therapies, stem cell treatments and vision-preserving plant extracts were among the subjects covered by participants in the Foundation’s annual TRAP meeting in Las Vegas.

An international research team, funded in part by the Foundation Fighting Blindness, has used gene therapy to reactivate retinal cells that were previously unresponsive to light. The treatment was delivered to cones, the retinal cells that provide central and daytime vision. Investigators evaluated the gene therapy in two mouse models of retinal degenerative disease, as well as cultures of human retinal tissue. Using a variety of tests, the researchers demonstrated that the treated cells restored functional vision, and that the restoration of vision persisted over a long period of time.

In a study funded by the Foundation Fighting Blindness, researchers have found that a gene known as LIPC appears to be associated with a decreased risk of developing age-related macular degeneration (AMD), the leading cause of blindness in Americans 55 years-of-age and older. The finding gives researchers more clues about AMD, a complex disease caused by multiple genetic and environmental factors, and potentially new targets for vision-saving preventions and treatments.

• What is Macular Degeneration?
• What Causes Macular Degeneration?
• What Are Some of the Questions I Should Ask My Eye Doctor?
• What Are the Symptoms of Macular Degeneration?
• Can my Ophthalmologist Diagnose Macular Degeneration?
• Are There Special Tests to Diagnose Macular Degeneration?
• Can Macular Degeneration Lead to Total Blindness?
• Can Macular Degeneration be Prevented?
• Is there a Treatment for Macular Degeneration?
• How Quickly Does Macular Degeneration Progress?
• If I have Drusen, Does that Mean I’ll Develop Macular Degeneration?
• Can an Eye Transplant Cure Macular Degeneration?
• Are Cataracts Associated with Macular Degeneration?
• What Is Wet Macular Degeneration?
• What Is Dry Macular Degeneration?

Macular Degeneration - What Environmental and Behavioral Factors Increase the Risk?

Researchers have discovered several risk factors that appear to be associated with macular degeneration.

• What is age-related macular degeneration?
• What are the symptoms?
• What is dry AMD?
• What is wet AMD?
• What treatments are available for wet AMD?
• How does nutrition affect AMD?
• What are the risk factors?
• Is AMD an inherited disease?
• What is the Amsler grid?
• What low-vision aids are available?