Complexities of Age-Related Blindness
Via Medical News Today, a look at the tough road facing researchers as they work towards prevention and repair for age-related macular degeneration (AMD) and retinitis pigmentosa (RP): "It has been a painstaking scientific journey as AMD and RP each belong to a complex family of disorders, in which every disorder has many forms and each form is encoded with a distinct genetic recipe. Even AMD, a major cause of vision loss in people over 60, is actually a collection of more than 50 diseases. ... Working with fruit flies, the scientists have discovered that a mutation in a common gene called calnexin can derail the light-processing activity of cells and set in motion the gradual breakdown of vision. ... Understanding the basic mechanisms of how proteins are folded holds the key to finding treatments for not only retinal degenerative diseases but also other neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer's, Huntington's and Parkinson's."
Link: http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/medicalnews.php?newsid=36399