Today in an elderly society, age-related degenerative diseases have become a major global medical challenge. The latest research from the Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis pointed out that molecules called “lipoprotein M” (apoM) may be related to eye lesions and cardiovascular function at the same time, providing a new therapeutic strategy for preventing vision degeneration and heart failure, and also revealing the deep relationship between lipid metabolism and cellular health.paper It was published in Nature Communications at the end of June.
Aged-related macular degeneration (AMD) is the main cause of blindness in older people. The patient gradually degenerates in the center of the retina, resulting in impairment of functions such as reading and facial recognition. The initial stage may be just blurred vision, but if it continues to deteriorate, visual function may be completely lost and it will be difficult to recover.
The current treatment methods are only mainly about delaying deterioration, such as the use of anti-angiogenic drugs, but there is still a lack of fundamental therapies that can truly restore vision or repair cell damage. The scientists who discovered this time therefore turned to explore the abnormal molecular metabolism behind the lesions and locked in the key molecule ApoM.
ApoM is not just a “porter” of cholesterol
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ApoM is one of the high-density lipoprotein (HDL), which is mainly considered to be involved in the transportation of “good cholesterol” and has a vascular protection effect. The study further found that metabolic health of the retina and the heart also plays a key role. The team observed that blood ApoM concentrations decreased significantly in patients with advanced AMD or heart failure. Mice experiments found that lack of ApoM can lead to imbalance in the cholesterol metabolism of retinal and heart cells, abnormal fat accumulation, and then lead to cell inflammation and functional degeneration.
ApoM initiates cells to self-clear bad cholesterol
ApoM can bind to a lipid called S1P (sphingosine-1-phosphate), initiate the degradation mechanism of cellular cholesterol and help cells deal with too much bad cholesterol. If the ApoM or S1P content decreases, the cellular cholesterol metabolic pathway will be dysregulated. The accumulation of cholesterol can hinder the normal functioning of retinal cells and cardiomyocytes, leading to inflammation, cell death and deterioration of tissue function.
What is exciting is that after the team used gene therapy to supplement ApoM for macular lesions, the retinal and heart functions of the mice improved. The accumulation of retinal lipids has been significantly reduced, the cell morphology has returned to normal, and the photosensitive ability has also rebounded; at the same time, the heart structure and contraction function have also been significantly improved! These experimental results confirm that ApoM not only prevents retinal degeneration, but also may improve chronic heart disease, showing that it is an important metabolic factor connecting the eyes and heart health.
From laboratory to clinical
The team of scientists, assisted by the Office of Technology Management, founded Mobius Scientific in 2022 to develop ApoM-based therapeutic products, which may include gene therapy, protein injections, or small-molecule drugs that promote endogenous ApoM performance. If clinical experiments are successfully passed in the future, it can be used to treat early AMD or heart failure patients, or for prevention purposes, delaying common metabolic and functional decline in the elderly.
Looking ahead, although ApoM-based therapies are still in the animal experiment stage, the dual protective effects of vision and heart health bring new hope to medicine. This study also reminds people that many organ diseases do not exist independently and may have common roots.
(First picture source: shutterstock)
