Parkinson's disease drug will preserve vision

Researchers working under the leadership of Dr. Brian McKay from the University of Arizona have demonstrated the possibility of slowing or preventing the development of age-related macular degeneration using the drug L-dopa, widely used for the treatment of Parkinson's disease and other neurodegenerative diseases.

Age–related macular degeneration is an untreated disease that is one of the leading causes of vision loss in old age. It impairs central vision and, even in cases that do not lead to complete blindness, significantly impairs a person's ability to read, drive a car and recognize faces.

As part of their research, scientists have established a biological relationship between dark-colored (more pigmented) eyes resistant to age-related macular degeneration and an increased content of L-dopa compound in the tissues of such eyes. Since drugs containing L-dopa are often prescribed to patients with Parkinson's disease, the researchers decided to check whether this prevents the development of age-related macular degeneration in such patients.

In search of an answer to this question, the researchers analyzed a database containing information about 37,000 patients. Since the average age of patients at the time of administration of L-dopa is 67 years, and the average age of manifestation of age–related macular degeneration is 71 years, they were able to effectively track the change in the condition of patients. 

The data obtained showed that taking L-dopa significantly reduced the likelihood of age-related macular degeneration in patients, and in cases of its development, symptoms appeared much later. These conclusions were fully confirmed by subsequent analysis of a much larger data set containing information on 87 million patients. In this case, according to the results obtained, L-dopa also delayed or prevented the development of age-related macular degeneration or prevented the progression of the disease into a more severe "wet" form.

In the near future, the researchers plan to conduct a clinical study aimed at further studying the ability of L-dopa to prevent the development of age-related macular degeneration.

Article by Murray H. Brilliant et al. Mining retrospective data for virtual prospective drug repurposing: L-DOPA and age-related macular degeneration is published in The American Journal of Medicine.

Evgeniya Ryabtseva

Portal "Eternal youth" http://vechnayamolodost.ru based on the materials of the BrightFocus Foundation:
New Study: Leading Cause of Blindness Could Be Prevented or Delayed.