Dr. Moroi
One day, ophthalmologists may be able to prescribe glaucoma treatment based on an individual’s genetic background. Sayoko E. Moroi, M.D., Ph.D., is laying the groundwork with a series of studies suggesting that factors influencing eye pressure are connected to an individual’s genetic makeup.
Her data suggests that individuals with certain gene variations will respond differently to medications meant to regulate eye pressure. The goal of current glaucoma treatment is to lower eye pressure, so that the rate of glaucoma-related nerve damage is decreased. By slowing down the optic nerve damage, vision may be preserved.
“These medications have a large impact on health care costs,” Dr. Moroi explains. “I am driven to understand how people will respond to treatments and why they have adverse reactions. Patients have to come in for frequent visits to determine how they are responding to specific medications, and many develop side effects.”
One factor that may influence a person’s response to medications is the production of eye fluid. Dr. Moroi’s laboratory has demonstrated that individuals show a predictable pattern in the biological rhythm in the formation of eye fluid, which is a strong indicator that it has genetic ties. Her research team has also completed a study that examines how additional factors regulating eye pressure are predictable in individuals.
“Our next step is to examine these issues in a large population,” Dr. Moroi says. To do that, she will work with the National Eye Institute’s Ocular Hypertension Treatment Study, a national clinical trial looking at the effects of medical therapies on people with ocular hypertension, which is elevated eye pressure without signs of optic nerve damage or vision loss.
“Four eye centers around the world, including Kellogg, are showing evidence of genetic factors for eye pressure,” Dr. Moroi explains. “This growing evidence leads us to believe that we will be able to predict who will respond well to different medications.
“We’re just at the beginning of this,” she says. “But it is an exciting time.”
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