Eye Opening Alzheimer's Drugs

(Ivanhoe Newswire) -- Drugs being used to treat Alzheimer's disease might also benefit people with the eye disease glaucoma. The reason? The two conditions have more in common than we thought.

Glaucoma is a disease of the retina, and the retina is really just an extension of brain tissue into the eye, according to researchers in England. Using a new technology for visualizing retinal cells, they found beta-amyloid protein, which has long been implicated as the cause of plaque build up in the brain and Alzheimer's disease, is also responsible for causing the retinal nerve cell death that leads to glaucoma.

While glaucoma was previously thought of as a disease caused by pressure buildup in the eye, study authors suggest the disease may also be caused by beta-amyloid. New drugs aimed at reducing beta-amyloid in the brain may also work to reduce nerve damage in the eye and, thus, glaucoma, report researchers.

"We've seen for the first time that there is a clear link between what causes Alzheimer's disease and one of the basic mechanisms behind glaucoma," study author Francesca Cordeiro, M.D., Ph.D., from University College London, was quoted as saying.

While she was quick to note not everyone who gets one of these diseases will get the other, Dr. Codeiro reported the connection between the two suggests promising new treatments for glaucoma. "Our success in treating glaucoma in the lab by combining different Alzheimer's treatments represents a brand new treatment strategy."

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SOURCE: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, published online Aug. 6, 2007