Ophthalmic Research Lecture 2018: DARC as a Potential Surrogate Marker

Area of Science:

• Ophthalmology
• Neuroscience
• Biomarker Development

Background:

• Glaucoma is a progressive neurodegenerative disease with increasing global prevalence.
• Current diagnostic methods for glaucoma require improvement for earlier and more reliable detection to prevent vision loss.
• There is a significant need for a reliable surrogate marker to assess the efficacy of neuroprotective therapies in glaucoma research.

Purpose of the Study:

• To introduce and evaluate the potential of the Detection of Apoptosing Retinal Cells (DARC) technique.
• To address the unmet clinical need for a reliable biomarker in glaucoma research and neuroprotection.
• To explore DARC as a tool for quantifying the effects of neuroprotective interventions.

Main Methods:

• Utilized the DARC technique, a novel method for visualizing dying cells in the retina.
• Conducted multiple animal studies to validate DARC as a biomarker for retinal neuroprotection.
• Translated the DARC technique into human Phase I and II clinical trials.

Main Results:

• Animal studies successfully demonstrated DARC's utility in quantifying the impact of retinal neuroprotection.
• Phase I human trials successfully visualized individual apoptosing retinal cells in both healthy and glaucomatous patients.
• The DARC technique exhibited good safety and tolerability in human participants.

Conclusions:

• The DARC technique shows significant promise as a biomarker for retinal neurodegeneration, particularly in glaucoma.
• Successful translation to human trials indicates the potential of DARC for clinical applications.
• Future research will focus on identifying disease-specific DARC characteristics for use as a surrogate marker in retinal neurodegeneration.