$2.4 million grant for study of corneal infections associated with contact lense

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Public release date: 20-Mar-2008

EurekAlert (press release) - Washington,DC*

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University Hospitals of Cleveland

http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2008-03/uhoc-mg032008.php

$2.4 million grant for study of corneal infections associated with

contact lenses

NEI grant awarded to University Hospitals Case Medical Center, Case

Western Reserve University

Contact lens wearers are often warned to properly clean their lenses

to prevent infections that can lead to severe inflammation, intense

pain, and sight impairment.

Researchers from University Hospitals Case Medical Center and Case

Western Reserve University School of Medicine have been awarded a

$2.4 million grant over five years from the National Eye Institute

(NEI) to study corneal infection (keratitis) brought on by disease-

causing fungi that can be lurking on contact lenses, in the air, in

the dirt, or even on common household surfaces.

They will set their sights on Fusarium solani, the ubiquitous fungus

that achieved international notoriety in 2005 and 2006 after an

outbreak of corneal infections related to a contact lens care

solution in the United States.

The researchers will study the body's immune response to Fusarium

and other pathogenic fungi, and will identify factors that fuel the

infections.

Leading the study are Pearlman, Ph.D., research director and

research professor in the Department of Ophthalmology and Visual

Sciences, and Mahmoud Ghannoum, Ph.D., director of the Center for

Medical Mycology in the Department of Dermatology. This award

recognizes the complementary expertise of the two researchers. Dr.

Pearlman is an expert in microbial infections and immune defense,

while Dr. Ghannoum is expert in fungal pathogenesis.

" Fusarium solani was already well-known as an important cause of eye

infections in warm, humid areas of the U.S., and in southern and

southeastern Asia, where this fungus can be picked up from the

digging of dirt in agricultural work, " Dr. Pearlman said. " A couple

of years ago, we saw it cause a lot of trouble in contact lens

wearers because cleaning solutions weren't able to scrub it away.

Once it got into people's eyes, it caused many problems and led to a

recall of a cleaning solution. "

Earlier this year, this research team published a study that

described how fungal cells formed biofilms, highly resistant

structures held together with a glue-like matrix material.

" Once they live in that type of state, the cells become resistant to

lens solutions and immune to the body's own defense system, " said

Dr. Ghannoum.

UH Case Medical Center and Case Western Reserve University School of

Medicine, mainly through the Department of Ophthalmology and the

Visual Sciences Research Center, receive more than $41 million in

vision research grants from the NEI, one of the National Institutes

of Health. The NEI conducts and supports research to help prevent

and treat eye diseases and other disorders of vision.

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About University Hospitals

With 150 locations throughout Northeast Ohio, University Hospitals

serves the needs of patients through an integrated network of

hospitals, outpatient centers and primary care physicians. At the

core of our Health System is University Hospitals Case Medical

Center. The primary affiliate of Case Western Reserve University

School of Medicine, University Hospitals Case Medical Center is home

to some of the most prestigious clinical and research centers of

excellence in the nation and the world, including cancer,

pediatrics, women's health, orthopedics and spine, radiology and

radiation oncology, neurosurgery and neuroscience, cardiology and

cardiovascular surgery, organ transplantation and human genetics.

Its main campus includes the internationally celebrated Rainbow

Babies & Children's Hospital, ranked best in the Midwest and first

in the nation for the care of critically ill newborns; Mac

Women's Hospital, Ohio's only hospital for women; and Ireland Cancer

Center, which holds the nation's highest designation by the National

Cancer Institute of Comprehensive Cancer Center. For more

information, go to www.uhhospitals.org

About Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine

Founded in 1843, Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine

is the largest medical research institution in Ohio and 12th largest

among the nation's medical schools for research funding from the

National Institutes of Health. Eleven Nobel Laureates have been

affiliated with the school. The School of Medicine is recognized

throughout the international medical community for outstanding

achievements in teaching and in 2002, became the third medical

school in history to receive a pre-eminent review from the national

body responsible for accrediting the nation's academic medical

institutions. The School's innovative and pioneering Western

Reserve2 curriculum interweaves four themes--research and

scholarship, clinical mastery, leadership, and civic professionalism-

-to prepare students for the practice of evidence-based medicine in

the rapidly changing health care environment of the 21st century.

Annually, the School of Medicine trains more than 600 M.D. and

M.D./Ph.D. students and ranks in the top 25 among U.S. research-

oriented medical schools as designated by U.S. News and World Report

Guide to Graduate Education.

The School of Medicine's primary clinical affiliate is University

Hospitals Case Medical Center and is additionally affiliated with

MetroHealth Medical Center, the Louis Stokes Cleveland Department of

Veterans Affairs Medical Center, and the Cleveland Clinic

Foundation, with which it established the Cleveland Clinic Lerner

College of Medicine of Case Western Reserve University in 2002.

http://casemed.case.edu.