Contact lens wearers are often warned to properly clean their lenses to prevent infections that can lead to severe inflammation, intense pain, and sight impairment.
Researchers from University Hospitals Case Medical Center and Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine have been awarded a $2.4 million grant over five years from the National Eye Institute (NEI) to study corneal infection (keratitis) brought on by disease-causing fungi that can be lurking on contact lenses, in the air, in the dirt, or even on common household surfaces.
They will set their sights on Fusarium solani, the ubiquitous fungus that achieved international notoriety in 2005 and 2006 after an outbreak of corneal infections related to a contact lens care solution in the United States.
The researchers will study the body’s immune response to Fusarium and other pathogenic fungi, and will identify factors that fuel the infections.
Leading the study are Eric Pearlman, Ph.D., research director and research professor in the Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences, and Mahmoud Ghannoum, Ph.D., director of the Center for Medical Mycology in the Department of Dermatology. This award recognizes the complementary expertise of the two researchers. Dr. Pearlman is an expert in microbial infections and immune defense, while Dr. Ghannoum is expert in fungal pathogenesis.
“Fusarium solani was already well-known as an important cause of eye infections in warm, humid areas of the U.S., and in southern and southeastern Asia, where this fungus can be picked up from the digging of dirt in agricultural work,” Dr. Pearlman said. “A couple of years ago, we saw it cause a lot of trouble in contact lens wearers because cleaning solutions weren’t able to scrub it away. Once it got into people’s eyes, it caused many problems and led to a recall of a cleaning solution.”
Earlier this year, this research team published a study that described how fungal cells formed biofilms, highly resistant structures held together with a glue-like matrix material.
“Once they live in that type of state, the cells become resistant to lens solutions and immune to the body’s own defense system,” said Dr. Ghannoum.
UH Case Medical Center and Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine, mainly through the Department of Ophthalmology and the Visual Sciences Research Center, receive more than $41 million in vision research grants from the NEI, one of the National Institutes of Health. The NEI conducts and supports research to help prevent and treat eye diseases and other disorders of vision.
About University Hospitals
With 150 locations throughout Northeast Ohio, University Hospitals serves the needs of patients through an integrated network of hospitals, outpatient centers and primary care physicians. At the core of our Health System is University Hospitals Case Medical Center. The primary affiliate of Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine, University Hospitals Case Medical Center is home to some of the most prestigious clinical and research centers of excellence in the nation and the world, including cancer, pediatrics, women's health, orthopedics and spine, radiology and radiation oncology, neurosurgery and neuroscience, cardiology and cardiovascular surgery, organ transplantation and human genetics. Its main campus includes the internationally celebrated Rainbow Babies & Children's Hospital, ranked best in the Midwest and first in the nation for the care of critically ill newborns; MacDonald Women's Hospital, Ohio's only hospital for women; and Ireland Cancer Center, which holds the nation's highest designation by the National Cancer Institute of Comprehensive Cancer Center. For more information, go to www.uhhospitals.org
About Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine
Founded in 1843, Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine is the largest medical research institution in Ohio and 12th largest among the nation’s medical schools for research funding from the National Institutes of Health. Eleven Nobel Laureates have been affiliated with the school. The School of Medicine is recognized throughout the international medical community for outstanding achievements in teaching and in 2002, became the third medical school in history to receive a pre-eminent review from the national body responsible for accrediting the nation’s academic medical institutions. The School’s innovative and pioneering Western Reserve2 curriculum interweaves four themes--research and scholarship, clinical mastery, leadership, and civic professionalism--to prepare students for the practice of evidence-based medicine in the rapidly changing health care environment of the 21st century.
Annually, the School of Medicine trains more than 600 M.D. and M.D./Ph.D. students and ranks in the top 25 among U.S. research-oriented medical schools as designated by U.S. News and World Report Guide to Graduate Education.
The School of Medicine’s primary clinical affiliate is University Hospitals Case Medical Center and is additionally affiliated with MetroHealth Medical Center, the Louis Stokes Cleveland Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Center, and the Cleveland Clinic Foundation, with which it established the Cleveland Clinic Lerner College of Medicine of Case Western Reserve University in 2002. http://casemed.case.edu.