Researchers discover how high blood sugar could lead to blindness

February 8, 2010

Although experts have always known that high blood sugar from diabetes is related to vision loss, it has never before been determined exactly how this process occurs.

Researchers from Michigan State University have determined that there is a specific protein that leads to diabetic retinopathy. The protein known as siah-1 is produced when blood sugar levels dramatically increase in the body, and it shuttles another protein, glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase (GAPDH), into the nucleus of cells within the eye. Ultimately, the process can lead to the vascular damage that is associated with diabetic retinopathy.

Researcher Susanne Mohr said that she is excited for this breakthrough, as it may lead to new treatments.

"If we can keep GAPDH out of the nuclei, we may be able to completely stop diabetic retinopathy," Mohr said. "Our next step is to [figure] out if both the GAPHD and the siah-1 proteins have to be together in a complex to cause cell death."

It is estimated that up to 45 percent of patients who suffer from diabetes have some level of diabetic retinopathy.