Calpains may be a target for cataract inhibition

Recent work with the proteases known as calpains indicate that calpain inhibitors may have the potential to act as anti-cataract agents, according to a recent publication. Advances in developing calpain inhibitors shows that these agents may lend themselves to topical ocular administration, the researchers said.

Unregulated proteolysis of some essential lens proteins by calpains may be a major contributor to some forms of cataract in both animals and humans, according to D.A. Phoenix and colleagues. The British researchers said current evidence suggests that calpain 2 “appears to be the major calpain involved in animal models of diabetic cataractogenesis and the only major calpain active in human lenses.”

Calpains are a family of proteases that proteolyze a wide variety of cytoskeletal, membrane-associated and regulatory proteins.

The research is published in the January issue of American Journal of Ophthalmology.