Search

EP-3854885-B1 - PHARMACOGENOMIC SCREENING METHOD FOR ANTICIPATING A PATIENT'S RESPONSE TO THE TREATMENT OF OCULAR HYPERTENSION

EP3854885B1EP 3854885 B1EP3854885 B1EP 3854885B1EP-3854885-B1

Inventors

  • Canut Jordana, Maria Isabel
  • Casaroli Marano, Ricardo Pedro
  • ARMENGOL DULCET, LLUIS
  • Villa Marcos, Olaya
  • BARRAQUER COMPTE, RAFAEL IGNACIO

Dates

Publication Date
20260506
Application Date
20190913

Claims (6)

  1. An in vitro screening method to determine a patient's response to the treatment of ocular hypertension, comprising the step of: a) determining the copy number of MLIP-AS1 gene in a sample of a biological fluid from a patient; wherein more than one copy of said MLIP-AS1 is an indication that the patient is responder to the treatment with prostaglandins, and wherein less than one copy of said MLIP-AS1 is an indication that the patient is responder to the treatment with β-blockers.
  2. Method for in vitro screening according to claim 1, characterized in that said β-blocker is timolol maleate.
  3. Method for in vitro screening according to claim 1, characterized in that said prostaglandin is latanoprost.
  4. Method for in vitro screening according to any one of the preceding claims, characterized in that said ocular hypertension is primary open-angle glaucoma (POAG).
  5. Method for in vitro screening according to any one of the preceding claims, characterized in that in step a) of said method said biological fluid is saliva, whole blood, plasma, serum, or urine of a patient.
  6. Method for in vitro screening according to claim 5, characterized in that in step a) of said method the biological fluid is saliva.

Description

The present invention relates to the field of in vitro screening. In particular, it refers to a method to anticipate a patient's response to the treatment with the main drugs used for diseases involving ocular hypertension such as primary open-angle glaucoma (POAG). Ocular hypertension means that the pressure of eyes, also known as intraocular hypertension (IOP), is higher than the pressure of healthy individuals. If left untreated, high eye pressure can cause glaucoma and permanent vision loss in some individuals. There are several types of glaucoma, being the open-angle glaucoma (POAG) the most common. Glaucoma is a progressive neurodegenerative disease characterized by progressive degeneration of retinal ganglion cells. These are central nervous system neurons that have their cell bodies in the inner retina and axons in the optic nerve. Degeneration of these neurons results in cupping, a characteristic appearance of the optic disc and visual loss. The biological basis of glaucoma is poorly understood and the factors contributing to its progression have not been fully characterized. Glaucoma affects more than 70 million people worldwide with approximately 10% becoming bilaterally blind, making it the leading cause of irreversible blindness in the world (Quigley HA, Broman AT. The number of people with glaucoma worldwide in 2010 and 2020. Br J Ophthalmol. 2006;90(3):262-267). Glaucoma can remain asymptomatic until it is severe, resulting in a high likelihood that the number of affected individuals is much higher than the number known to have it. The main protective element of retinal ganglion cells in hypertensive glaucoma is the reduction of IOP. IOP can be reduced in various ways. The treatment of choice to lower the ocular hypertension is mainly topical medication. At present, the most commonly used topical drugs are β-blockers and prostaglandins. The administration of β-blocker drugs, which had been used to treat cardiovascular hypertension since the 1960s, was a breakthrough in glaucoma treatment since they significantly lowered IOP with fewer side effects than previous glaucoma drugs. Before the introduction of prostaglandin analogs, β-blockers were the most commonly prescribed treatment for glaucoma. In the late 1970s, a topical timolol maleate treatment became the first FDA approved β-blocker for the treatment of glaucoma. Timolol maleate is a non-selective β-blocker which decreases the formation of aqueous humor (AH) in the ciliary body. Recently, a new family of drugs, the prostaglandin analogs, has become the first line of treatment. Naturally occurring prostaglandins bind a variety of cell surface receptors and are involved in mediating smooth muscle contraction and inflammation. Since their discovery, prostaglandins and their analogs have been studied as potential therapeutics in a number of diseases. Prostaglandin analogs have been shown to lower IOP mainly via increasing uveoscleral outflow, along with conventional AH outflow. While the specific mechanism of action of increasing outflow remains unknown, studies indicate that prostaglandin analogs affect extracellular matrix remodelling and may relax the ciliary body. Prostaglandin analogs have short half-lives and can be administered locally in the eye at low doses, which reduces the likelihood of side effects. The most commonly used prostaglandin in ophthalmology is latanoprost, which for example is the active ingredient of the medication sold under the brand name Xalatan®. Document WO2011/004404 studies the susceptibility to glaucoma by analyzing sequence data of a human individual for at least one polymorphic marker associated with the human caveolin-1 and/or caveolin-2 gene, where different alleles of the at least one marker are associated with different susceptibilities to glaucoma and also pertains to the determination of response to prostaglandin or β-blockers treatment by determining at least the polymorphic marker rs4236601, which is related to the caveolin gene family. However, it is difficult to know a priori which one of the two above-mentioned drugs will be the best treatment for lowering ocular hypertension of a specific patient. The inventors of the present invention have identified that there are two types of patients: responders and non-responders to the above-mentioned drug treatments; i.e., that the treatment response is not the same in each patient. Therefore, prior to starting topical treatment, there is a need of a screening tool that would help the specialists to anticipate the responder status of an individual, in order to select the appropriate drug treatment to lower ocular hypertension, thus avoiding a long-term treatment with insufficient or ineffective response and undesirable side effects. To overcome the above-mentioned problems, the inventors of the present invention have discovered that the response of a patient to said drug treatments is related to the genetic profile of the patient. The determination of a s