Do Fungi Cause Retinopathies?

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Do Fungi Cause Retinopathies?

Medical News Today (press release) - UK*

Main Category: Eye Health / Blindness

Also Included In: Biology / Biochemistry

Article Date: 10 Mar 2008 - 0:00 PDT

http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/100029.php

A research team from the Centro de Biologia Molecular Severo Ochoa

(CSIC-UAM) working in collaboration with the Clínica Barraquer in

Barcelona have focused their research on the study of fungi as a

possible cause of strange retinopathies such as AZOOR.

There are several retinopathies of unknown cause; among them AZOOR,

Multifocal choroiditis, Serpiginous choroiditis, Idiopathic Blind

Spot Enlargement Syndrome … etc. The progressive nature of these

conditions causes most patients to gradually lose their vision until

many of them are left blinded. It must be considered that not only

is the diagnosis most patients not easy, especially in the early

stages of the disease, but that the identification of faster

diagnosis methods would lead to the correct treatment sooner,

avoiding in this manner the increasing loss of visual acuity.

Without a doubt, discovering the cause of each of these

retinopathies would bring new hope of their treatments. Three years

ago, with the help and financial support of ONCE, a research team

led by Carrasco professor of microbiology at the Universidad

Autónoma de Madrid, noticed that a patient suffering form AZOOR was

also infected by a type of yeast called Candida famata. In

collaboration with the Clínica Barraquer, these studies have been

extended to other patients with AZOOR or with Serpiginous

choroiditis. In January this year, information about the fungal

infection in these patients was published in the Journal of Clinical

Microbiology (Pisa, D., M. Ramos, P. García, R. Escoto, R.

Barraquer, S. Molina y L. Carrasco. Fungal infection in patients

with Serpiginous choroiditis or acute zonal occult outer

retinopathy. J. Clin. Microbiol. 46, 130-135 (2008)).

To carry out this investigation the researchers analyzed blood

samples looking for antibodies against yeasts, as well as different

fungal components such as proteins and DNA. These results indicate

the existence of a disseminated mycosis in most of the analyzed

patients which suggests that retinopathies like AZOOR and

Serpiginous choroiditis are caused by fungal infections. Looking for

treatments based on current anti fungal drugs could offer great

benefits for these patients. The clinical studies about the effects

of anti fungal compounds in the evolution of these patients will be

crucial to determine whether the presence of mycosis is the cause of

the loss of visual acuity.

Future investigations by Dr. Carrasco's research group will

lean towards the improvement of diagnosis techniques for fungal

infections and the cause of other retinopathies. These techniques

will also be useful for the analysis of the evolution and

effectiveness of the possible anti fungal treatments that are

implemented with these patients.

MADRIMASD

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