The role of brain-derived neurotrophic factor and development of gene therapy in glaucoma

2022 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 19K10001
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Section: 一般
• Review Section: Basic Section 56060:Ophthalmology-related
• Research Institution: Nippon Medical School
• Principal Investigator: Igarashi Tsutomu 日本医科大学, 医学部, 准教授 (10421190)
• Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha): 高橋 浩 日本医科大学, 大学院医学研究科, 大学院教授 (00188046)
• Project Period (FY): 2019-04-01 – 2023-03-31
• Keywords: 眼科 / 緑内障 / BDNF / マウス

Outline of Final Research Achievements

① BDNF processing-impaired mice (BDNFpro/pro)　We are currently preparing for submission, so we cannot publish the research results here, but we plan to make presentations and reports in the future.

② AAV-BDNF and AAV-BDNF-IRES-TrkB　In the case of AAV, the length of the gene that can be loaded is limited to 4.7Kb. In the case of AAV-BDNF-IRES-TrkB this time, since it was longer than 4.7Kb, various plasmids were constructed considering short promoters and other sequences. However, the titer of the AAV vector did not increase, and the plasmid is currently being reconstructed, and we will continue to investigate.

Free Research Field

眼科

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

眼圧の低い緑内障患者では、眼圧が高い場合のような視神経へのダメージは少なくなる傾向がありますが、緑内障の進行や視野の損失が進むことがある。このため、眼圧の低い緑内障患者には、眼圧を下げるだけでなく、視神経を保護する治療法が期待される。BDNFは期待される神経保護因子であり、今後遺伝子治療と組み合わせた治療法が期待される。そのBDNFのプロセッシング障害マウスによる解析結果は、今後の緑内障におけるBDNF研究にとって重要な研究だと考えられる。