Development of targeted and sustained anti-scarring/anti-fibrosis drug delivery in the eye

Maryse Bailly (primary)
Institute of Ophthalmology
University College London
Richard Day (secondary)
Medicine
University College London

Abstract

Post surgical scarring is a major driver of treatment failure in ocular diseases, particularly in glaucoma and trachomatous trichiasis (conjunctiva scarring), with almost 100M people affected worldwide. For both diseases, the success of the surgical treatment is directly dependent on the absence of scarring recurrence after the surgery. We have developed a range of models of ocular tissue scarring that have allowed us to identify doxycycline as a promising anti-scarring agent. We propose to develop a device that will use biodegradable Thermally Induced Phase Separation (TIPS) microspheres loaded with doxycycline to deliver adjuvant anti-scarring therapy at the time of surgery.


References

  1. Li H, Ezra DG, Burton MJ, Bailly M. Doxycycline prevents matrix remodeling and contraction by trichiasis-derived conjunctival fibroblasts. Investigative ophthalmology & visual science. 2013; 54(7): 4675-82.
  2. Foong, K. S., Patel, R., Forbes, A., Day, R. M. Anti-Tumor Necrosis Factor-Alpha-Loaded Microspheres as a Prospective Novel Treatment for Crohn’s Disease Fistulae. Tissue Engineering 2010; 16(5), 855-864
  3. Tovell VE, Dahlmann-Noor AH, Khaw PT, Bailly M. Advancing the treatment of conjunctival scarring: a novel ex vivo model. Archives of Ophthalmology. 2011; 129(5): 619-27.
  4. Blaker, J. J., Knowles, J. C., Day, R. M. Novel fabrication techniques to produce microspheres by thermally induced phase separation for tissue engineering and drug delivery. Acta Biomater. 2008; 4(2), 264-272
  5. Blaker, J. J., Pratten, J., Ready, D., Knowles, J. C., Forbes, A., Day, R. M. Assessment of antimicrobial microspheres as a prospective novel treatment targeted towards the repair of perianal fistulae. Aliment.Pharmacol.Ther. 2008; 28(5), 614-622

BBSRC Area
Molecules, cells and industrial biotechnology
Area of Biology
Cell BiologyChemical Biology
Techniques & Approaches
BiochemistryBiophysicsEngineeringImage ProcessingMicroscopy / Electrophysiology