IMLADRIS - Investigating The Metabolic And Lipidomic Profiles That Are Associated With Varying Grades Of Diabetic Maculopathy And Retinopathy In South Wales
Brief plain language background
Diabetes is a major public health problem, with 415 million people affected world-wide and estimated to rise by 35% within the next 25 years.
Diabetic eye disease is one of the most comravimon complications of diabetes that can lead to vision loss, and for which no prevention or cure is available.
One of these conditions is diabetic retinopathy, which is damage to the retina at the back of the eye. Diabetic retinopathy is a major cause of vision loss in working-age adults worldwide, and its impact on eye care services is significant.
What problem/knowledge gap does it help address
Early stages of diabetic retinopathy involve damage to the blood-retinal barrier and changes in blood flow, leading to leakage in the retina. This process is linked to some metabolic changes, such as making fats, evidenced in animal studies and specific ethnic groups.
Currently the ophthalmic community understands some aspects of how diabetic retinopathy develops and how poor blood sugar control contributes to the condition worsening, but this only explains a small amount of the overall risk of diabetic retinopathy getting worse.
Better understanding these mechanisms could lead to new markers to predict who might be at risk of needing treatments earlier, easing the burden on healthcare systems.
Aim of the project
To understand how specific blood fats and small molecules differ in people with varying severity of diabetic retinopathy and in those with and without central retinal damage.
Potential impact on people with sight loss
Results from this work could provide earlier insight into which patients are more likely to develop worse diabetic retinopathy and will need more intensive monitoring, helping to prevent sight loss. Improved mechanistic understanding of diabetic retinopathy could inform the development of targeted or non-invasive treatments.