■ Scientists at Mass Eye and Ear and Brigham and Women’s Hospital have uncovered the role that APOE4 — a genetic variant associated with Alzheimer disease (AD)—plays in protecting against glaucoma. Their study in Immunity also reported that Galectin-3 inhibitors successfully prevented the destruction of neurons in glaucomatous mice eyes by targeting the APOE signaling pathway.

The APOE4 gene variant increases risk for AD but decreases glaucoma risk by blocking a disease cascade that leads to retinal ganglion cell destruction. This process can be prevented by inhibiting Galectin-3, which is regulated by the APOE gene, the researchers reported. The findings emphasize the critical role of APOE in glaucoma and suggest that Galectin-3 inhibitors hold promise as a glaucoma treatment, according to the authors.

“Our research provides greater understanding of the genetic pathway that leads to irreversible blindness in glaucoma, and importantly, points to a possible treatment to address the root cause of the vision loss,” said lead author Milica Margeta, MD, PhD, assistant professor of ophthalmology at Harvard Medical School. “This study shows that the APOE-mediated disease cascade is clearly harmful in glaucoma, and that when you interfere with it genetically or pharmacologically, you can actually stop the disease.”