RPB Career Development Award recipient Wei Li, Ph.D., University of Miami, retrieves specimens used in identifying elements of tissue that cause the immune response in autoimmune uveitis.
Hope Through Research
Thanks to RPB funding, researchers are advancing our understanding of eye infections and inflammatory conditions:
Discoveries related to causes of eye infections
- Scientists are identifying the roles of immune system cells in autoimmune uveitis. (Abstract 1, Abstract 2, Abstract 3, Abstract 4, Abstract 5)
- Scientists have identified a likely relationship between nontherapeutic soft contact lenses and corneal fungal infections. (Abstract 1, Abstract 2)
- Scientists have linked one-step contact lens solution to a previously rare, aggressive form of fungal corneal infection.
- RPB-funded researchers study risk factors and how trachoma is spread in Africa. (Abstract)
- White and red blood cell abnormalities have been found to decrease retinal blood flow in HIV patients, putting them at increased risk of retinal damage from infections. (Abstract 1, Abstract 2)
- An improved understanding of the relationship between eye and kidney disorders, in a form of uveitis that especially affects children, has helped in the recognition and diagnosis of this disease. (Abstract)
- The discovery of how the human protein apolipoprotein E affects the spread of the herpes virus in the eye helps identify people at high risk for recurrent herpes infections and leads to new therapies.
Advances in the prevention and treatment of eye infections
- Researchers have determined that repeated administration of antibiotics is needed to control trachoma in areas where the disease is widespread. (Abstract)
- It was found that recurrent herpes infections of the eye could be prevented by a method that keeps the virus asleep inside of nerve cells.
- Researchers are studying new antibiotics and treatment regimens to block the inflammatory response and reduce the vision loss in endophthalmitis, a potentially serious eye infection that sometimes occurs after eye surgery.
- One year of treatment with anti-parasitic drugs was shown to reduce eye and brain damage in infants exposed to toxoplasmosis. (Abstract)
- Gene research has led to development of a potential antiviral drug that could block the herpes virus from infecting the eye. (Abstract)
- Newer antibiotics and anti-inflammatory drugs appear safe and effective in treating cases of uveitis that respond poorly to standard therapies. (Abstract 1, Abstract 2, Abstract 3)
