According to US researchers a drug which is already licensed for use could also be used to treat sight problems in some albino people. The sufferers of albinism generate small or no melanin that has a wide range of health corollaries counting deprived sight and higher risk of malignant melanoma.
People suffering a form of albinism or oculocutaneous albinism (OCA1), have light skin, white hair and light irises occurred due to defective tyrosinase genes, which mean they struggle to produce melanin. A team of researchers from the National Eye Institute, Maryland carried out study in mice to see if drug nitisinone increased the production of melanin.
Nitisinone drug is used to treat a blood disorder, but is also known to increase hair and eye pigmentation. The research team found that giving the drug to mice suffering albino increased the amount of melanin in the eyes following one month of treatment.
But researchers could not enlighten if this improved eyesight in the mice because the nocturnal animals generally have dissimilar eye makeup. They are not sure about what would happen in human trails. Doctors writing in The Journal of Clinical Investigation thought a drug augmented melanin production in mice.
The report explained that an important unrequited query is whether improving pigmentation in patients with albinism would improve visual function. However, it was conceivable that increasing pigmentation may help with symptoms. Other doctors illustrate the work as a substantial jump forward.
The study represents a considerable step forward toward the potential treatment of all forms of oculocutaneous albinism (OCA), explained Dr Prashiela Manga and Dr Seth Orlow, from New York University School of Medicine.
source :http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health