It was only in 2007, 15 years ago, that a team of researchers discovered that glaucoma is more than a disease of the eye, but is a neurodegenerative condition, in the same family as Alzheimer’s disease. A new research team assembled by the Glaucoma Research Foundation (GRF) is beginning to investigate what glaucoma has in common with Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease, and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS).

These and other complex conditions occur when nerve cells in the central nervous system — eye, brain, spinal cord — deteriorate and die, a process called neurodegeneration. In glaucoma, neurodegeneration affects the retinal ganglion cells in the optic nerve, disconnecting the eye from the brain, and causing blindness over time. In Alzheimer’s, it affects nerve cells in the brain responsible for memory and cognition while in Parkinson’s, it affects nerve cells involved in movement and cognition.

In many cases, these neurodegenerative diseases are thought to result from injury to nerve cell axons, the long, slender projections that conduct electrical impulses between nerve cells. Investigating how these illnesses are alike and how they are different may illuminate new treatments, preventative measures, and cures for multiple conditions that trace their roots to neurodegeneration.

The newly formed Neurodegeneration Initiative was launched through a transformative $2.4 million gift to GRF from the Melza M. and Frank Theodore Barr Foundation. The Barrs first became involved with glaucoma research after Ted experienced vision challenges while working in Indonesia in the early 1970s. Added Ted, “We thought it was time to better understand neurodegeneration in a fundamental way and develop solutions based on that knowledge.”

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Note: 

Subscription to GLEAMS, the newsletter of the Glaucoma Research Foundation, is free. It is available in print and electronically.

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Some Risk Factors

People over 55, Black, Asian or of Hispanic heritage are more likely to have glaucoma than others. Black Americans are roughly 1.5 to 2 times as likely than Whites to develop Alzheimer's and related dementias.  Most studies report the highest prevalence of Parkinson’s in White populations and (ALS), in the United States, is also more common in White non-Hispanics.