Eye diseases, 'visible' in a sample of tears
The Gaiker-IK4 technology centre and the Clinical Surgical Institute of Ophthalmology of Bilbao (ICQO) are working on a project to diagnose eye diseases quickly and easily. It is intended to develop a diagnostic system for the detection of specific protein markers in tears.
The system, with a sample of tears, will indicate whether or not there is disease. It will be listed, as well as pregnancy tests, so it will be easy to use and due to its speed and simplicity, can be used at any time in the clinic. The positive signal will appear as a colored band.
In principle, it will detect specific markers of two eye diseases, such as conjunctivotxalasia and keratoconus. Currently, project participants are researching and valuing these markers. For this purpose, antibodies specific to markers are being studied in tears samples of patients with the two diseases mentioned.
In the future, at the end of 2008, project managers hope to develop a broader system. That is, in addition to the two diseases established in the initial objectives, they seek a system capable of detecting other eye diseases.
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