News Release
August 16, 2007
Embargoed until Thursday, August 16, 5 p.m. EST
Contact: Christopher DeFrancesco, 860-679-3914
e-mail:
cdefrancesco@uchc.edu
Focusing on Blood Vessels to Fight Blindness
UConn Heath Center Research Published in
Prestigious Journal
FARMINGTON, CONN. – It could lead to the discovery of a way
to reduce the incidence of blindness.
Timothy Hla, Ph.D., director of the Center for Vascular Biology
at the University of Connecticut Health Center, has identified a
molecule found in blood plasma (called sphingosine 1-phoshpate) that
may hold one of the keys to vision loss.
“We studied a specific receptor that binds to sphingosine
1-phoshpate and showed it is necessary for blood vessel
abnormalities that often lead to blindness in people with diabetes
or age-related macular degeneration,” Hla says. “The study suggests
that drugs or therapies that inhibit this receptor could be useful
in preventing or treating blindness in these cases, as well as in
premature infants.”
Graduate student Athanasia Skoura (of West Hartford) worked with
Hla on the research. The study appears in the September issue of the
Journal of Clinical Investigation, and is available online at
www.jci.org.
The Journal of Clinical Investigation is a free access,
peer-reviewed biomedical research journal. It is published by the
American Society for Clinical Investigation, an honor society of
physician-scientists.
The University of Connecticut Health Center includes the schools of
medicine and dental medicine, the UConn Medical Group, University
Dentists, and John Dempsey Hospital, a Solucient Top 100 Hospital®
2006. Founded in 1961, the Health Center pursues a mission of
providing outstanding health care education in an environment of
exemplary patient care, research and public service. To learn more about
the UConn Health Center, visit our website at
www.uchc.edu.
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