Doctors found the way to fight glaucoma

Previously, doctors believed that the cause of glaucoma is high eye pressure, squeezing the visual nerve. But, as it turned out, the fault of the neurodegenerative process, spreading from the patient's optic nerve to healthy brain cells. This means that it can be dealt with with the help of autoimmune mechanisms that are effective in the case of neurodegenerative disorders.

Scientists are experimenting on the creation of a vaccine based on an autoimmune mechanism. So far, tests are mainly on animals. In 2002, scientists conducted a number of tests of the vaccine against Alzheimer's disease (also related to neurodegenerative diseases), as a result of which some patients began inflammatory processes in the brain. The negative consequences of the experiment revealed the complexity of working with an individual immune system of people.

Nevertheless, clinical trials can be a breakthrough in the fight against a number of serious diseases, including a glaucoma, which is suffered by about 65 million people throughout the globe.

Read more about these research - in the April issue of the magazine "In the World of Science" .