Diabetes mellitus is a major cause of blindness due to irreversible structural and functional changes to the lens and retinal vasculature. Mounting evidence from work with experimental animals suggests that aldose reductase, the first enzyme of the polyol pathway of glucose metabolism, plays a key role in the pathogenesis of diabetic eye disease. Inhibition of aldose reductase provides a therapeutically attractive means to delay the onset and/or progression of diabetic complications in the eye. However, effective drug therapy will depend on inhibitors with a high degree of binding specificity - a criterion not met by the currently available inhibitors. The aldo-keto reductase superfamily contains enzymes with structural and kinetic properties similar to aldose reductase. Many of these aldo-keto reductases are high affinity receptors for the same aldose reductase inhibitors previously evaluated but withdrawn from clinical trials. The long-range objective or our application is to identify structural features of aldose reductase and related enzymes that explain their functional differences and perhaps provide distinguishing features that can be exploited in drug design. A corollary goal is to establish the physiological role of aldose reductase, as long-term inhibitor therapy is likely to be required for effective prevention of diabetic eye disease.
Three specific aims are proposed to address these goals: (1) We will characterize the functional properties and expression pattern in the normal and diabetic eye of a newly discovered human enzyme that appears to have functional properties strikingly similar to aldose reductase; (2) Using a combination of mutagenesis and x-ray crystallography, we will test the hypothesis that the C-terminal domain is a structural feature that distinguishes the function of aldose reductase from other closely-related enzymes; (3) We will test the hypothesis that the physiological role of aldose reductase has been conserved in the budding yeast S. cerevisiae and that strains containing deletions of yeast aldose reductase can be marker rescued by the human aldose reductase gene.

Agency
National Institute of Health (NIH)
Institute
National Eye Institute (NEI)
Type
Research Project (R01)
Project #
5R01EY005856-17
Application #
6384494
Study Section
Special Emphasis Panel (ZRG1-VISC (02))
Program Officer
Liberman, Ellen S
Project Start
1988-07-16
Project End
2005-03-31
Budget Start
2001-04-01
Budget End
2002-03-31
Support Year
17
Fiscal Year
2001
Total Cost
$517,959
Indirect Cost
Name
Washington University
Department
Ophthalmology
Type
Schools of Medicine
DUNS #
062761671
City
Saint Louis
State
MO
Country
United States
Zip Code
63130
Zukin, Leonid M; Pedler, Michelle G; Groman-Lupa, Sergio et al. (2018) Aldose Reductase Inhibition Prevents Development of Posterior Capsular Opacification in an In Vivo Model of Cataract Surgery. Invest Ophthalmol Vis Sci 59:3591-3598
Zhang, Chi; Lai, Maria B; Pedler, Michelle G et al. (2018) Endothelial Cell-Specific Inactivation of TSPAN12 (Tetraspanin 12) Reveals Pathological Consequences of Barrier Defects in an Otherwise Intact Vasculature. Arterioscler Thromb Vasc Biol 38:2691-2705
Chang, Kun-Che; Shieh, Biehuoy; Petrash, J Mark (2017) Influence of aldose reductase on epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition signaling in lens epithelial cells. Chem Biol Interact 276:149-154
Chang, Kun-Che; Shieh, Biehuoy; Petrash, J Mark (2016) Aldose reductase mediates retinal microglia activation. Biochem Biophys Res Commun 473:565-71
Chang, Kun-Che; Li, Linfeng; Sanborn, Theresa M et al. (2016) Characterization of Emodin as a Therapeutic Agent for Diabetic Cataract. J Nat Prod 79:1439-44
Diego, Jose L; Bidikov, Luke; Pedler, Michelle G et al. (2016) Effect of human milk as a treatment for dry eye syndrome in a mouse model. Mol Vis 22:1095-1102
Nagaraj, Ram H; Nahomi, Rooban B; Mueller, Niklaus H et al. (2016) Therapeutic potential of ?-crystallin. Biochim Biophys Acta 1860:252-7
Chang, Kun-Che; Petrash, J Mark (2015) Aldose Reductase Mediates Transforming Growth Factor ?2 (TGF-?2)-Induced Migration and Epithelial-To-Mesenchymal Transition of Lens-Derived Epithelial Cells. Invest Ophthalmol Vis Sci 56:4198-210
Snow, Anson; Shieh, Biehuoy; Chang, Kun-Che et al. (2015) Aldose reductase expression as a risk factor for cataract. Chem Biol Interact 234:247-53
Chang, Kun-Che; Snow, Anson; LaBarbera, Daniel V et al. (2015) Aldose reductase inhibition alleviates hyperglycemic effects on human retinal pigment epithelial cells. Chem Biol Interact 234:254-60

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