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Researchers identify potential new approach for ROP treatment, prevention
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Researchers at the University of Florida and Harvard Medical School have found that insulin-like growth factor binding protein-3, or IGFBP-3, plays an active role in promoting the normal development of retinal blood vessels. The finding could offer a potential new approach for treating retinopathy of prematurity.
IGFBP-3 was believed to exclusively regulate insulin-like growth factor-1 (IGF-1), which is necessary for the development of nerve, muscle, bone, liver, kidney, lung, eye and other body tissues.
However, in a study involving mice, Maria B. Grant, MD, a professor of pharmacology and therapeutics at the University of Florida's College of Medicine, and colleagues found that the protein also activates stem cells and other reparative cells of bone marrow and the lining of blood vessels, according to a press release from the university.
The University of Florida researchers infused IGFBP-3 into one eye each of nine mice and placed the mice into a high-oxygen chamber for 5 days. They found that eyes treated with the protein had more normal retinal blood vessel development.
Another study involving 18 mice treated with bone marrow stem cells expressing IGFBP-3 yielded similar results, with treated eyes developing normally, according to the release.
In a separate prospective study, researchers at Harvard and in Sweden found that IGFBP-3 levels were lower in infants with retinopathy of prematurity (ROP) compared with healthy infants. The results suggest that the protein helps prevent oxygen-induced blood vessel loss and promotes healthy vascular regrowth.
These researchers are now conducting a phase 1 clinical study evaluating whether IGFBP-3 used in combination with IGF-1 can help prevent ROP in infants, the release said.
Both studies are published in the June 19 issue of Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.