- People with diabetes can also have the potentially blinding vision condition diabetic retinopathy.
- There is currently no cure for diabetic retinopathy.
- A new study has found that semaglutide — the active ingredient found in some GLP-1 medications prescribed for diabetes and to aid weight loss — may help protect the eyes from diabetic retinopathy.
Now, a new study recently published in the journal Pharmaceutics has found that semaglutide — the active ingredient found in
For this lab-based study, researchers used samples of human retinal endothelial cells that were treated with different concentrations of semaglutide. The cells were then placed in a solution with both a high glucose level and high level of oxidative stress — where there is an imbalance of antioxidants and free radicals — for 24 hours.
Past studies show that oxidative stress plays a role in the formation of diabetic retinopathy.
At the study’s conclusion, researchers found that the retinal cells treated with semaglutide were twice as likely to survive than cells that were untreated. Additionally, the treated cells were found to have larger stores of energy.
Scientists also found that three markers of diabetic retinopathy were decreased in the semaglutide-treated retinal cells. First, the levels of apoptosis — a form of cell death — decreased from about 50% in untreated cells to about 10% in semaglutide-treated cells. The production of the free radical mitochondrial superoxide decreased from about 90% to about 10% in the treated retinal cells.
Researchers also found the amount of advanced glycation end-products — harmful compounds that can collect in people with diabetes and are known to cause oxidative stress — also decreased substantially.
Lastly, scientists reported that the genes involved in the production of antioxidants were more active in the semaglutide-treated cells when compared to untreated cells. Researchers believe this is a sign that semaglutide may help repair damage to the retinal cells.
“Our study did not find that these drugs harmed the retinal cells in any way — instead, it suggests that GLP1-receptor agonists protect against diabetic retinopathy, particularly in the early stages,” Ioanna Anastasiou, PhD, molecular biologist and postdoctoral researcher at the National and Kapodistrian University in Greece, and lead author of this study, said in a press release.
“Excitingly, these drugs may be able to repair damage that has already been done and so improve sight. Clinical trials are now needed to confirm these protective effects in patients and explore whether GLP-1 receptor agonists can slow, or even halt, the progression of this vision-robbing condition.”
— Ioanna Anastasiou, PhD
Medical News Today spoke with Benjamin Bert, MD, a board certified ophthalmologist at MemorialCare Orange Coast Medical Center in Fountain Valley, CA, about this study.
“We’ve known with any of these medications that are able to reduce the blood glucose levels in diabetic patients, have been shown to be beneficial long-term for the health of the microvasculature that exists in the eye,” Bert said.
“What was unique about this study is that it was showing that maybe with the semaglutide-type medications that it may help to protect from oxidative stress. And so this could potentially be a different mechanism that it’s able to protect the eye with, so that’s a fascinating hypothesis and finding of this particular study.”
— Benjamin Bert, MD
If semaglutide can help protect against oxidative stress, Bert said it may even be able to help with other eye conditions.
“A lot of the damage that happens to our bodies is from the oxidative stress and free oxygen radicals,” he explained. “We’ve been hearing for many years about antioxidants and how important antioxidants are to the continued health of our bodies, and all the different molecules, minerals and vitamins, and things that you can take that help as antioxidants.”
“So if the GLP-1 medications also have this type of impact on our cellular function, then that would be another great way to be able to reduce this particular potentially damaging process,” Bert added.
MNT also spoke with Jonathan Gloth, MD, a board certified ophthalmologist and retina specialist, Hackensack Meridian Jersey Shore University Medical Center and Ocean University Medical Center in New Jersey, about this research.
“I have seen reduced diabetic retinopathy in patients on GLP-1 receptor agonists; therefore, the study results were consistent with what we’ve been seeing clinically in our diabetic patients,” Gloth commented. “It is imperative that GLP-1 medications are rigorously studied as they are so commonly prescribed and their usage has increased exponentially over the past few years.”
“I would like to see retina-specific studies that compare the response to our current retinal therapies — eye injections, laser procedures, and surgery — in those patients on GLP-1 receptor agonists vs those who are not,” he added.