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$1.1 Million Grant Funds Search for Genetic
Key
to Corneal Disease
A new federal grant focusing on painful inherited visual disorders that scar the cornea will allow researchers to narrow the genetic cause of one type of corneal dystrophy and to offer improved diagnosis of this family of diseases.
At the UT Medical School at Houston Richard W. Yee, M.D., is studying genetic causes of eye disease.
Photo by Karen Krakower
The $1.1 million, three-year award by the National Eye Institute funds follow-up research on Thiel- Behnke Corneal Dystrophy by principal investigators Richard W. Yee, M.D., holder of the Joe M. Green Jr. Chair in Ophthalmology, and Xinping Zhao, Ph.D., assistant professor, both of the Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Science at The University of Texas Medical School at Houston.
of Texas Medical School at Houston. "Thiel-Behnke causes spots of varying shape - they can look sort of like a fingerprint or be a dense patch blocking out light - on the front layer of cells in the cornea," Yee said. "Onset can occur as early as infancy, as late as adolescence, and is accompanied by a sharp, stabbing pain. The spots can be visually debilitating." The cornea is the curved, transparent layer at the very front of the eye.
Yee, Zhao, and UT School of Public Health Human Genetics Center colleagues Stephen Daiger Ph.D., and Lori Sullivan, Ph.D., previously narrowed the genetic cause of Thiel- Behnke to a short portion of DNA on chromosome 10. The NEI grant will fund an intensive effort to pinpoint the culprit variation among possible genes on that strip of the chromosome, clarifying the molecular cause of the disease.
Once treatable only by corneal transplantation, Thiel-Behnke is now treated by laser surgery but can still result in loss of vision, Yee said.
In addition to understanding the origins of Thiel-Behnke, Yee anticipates that the grant will allow his team to help diagnose other varieties of corneal dystrophy.
"There are many types of dystrophy and it's diffi- cult to discern them just by looking at them," Yee said. "Physicians will be able to send us blood samples of patients, which we can screen for known mutations using genetic markers - not just for Thiel- Behnke but for other dystrophies - and perhaps help with diagnosis."
Interested physicians may call (713) 704-1839 for further information.
Yee serves as director of Corneal and External Diseases and Refractive Surgery at Hermann Eye Center in Memorial Hermann Hospital. Daiger holds the Thomas Stull Matney, Ph.D., Endowed Professorship in Environmental and Genetic Sciences at the School of Public Health and the UT Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences at Houston. Sullivan is a faculty associate at the School of Public Health.
By Scott Merville, Public Affairs