Grant for Gronert Lab
By Liza Shevchuk
The Gronert Lab has been awarded a new $2.37 million grant from the National Eye Institute to investigate the function and regulation of a prostaglandin pathway in retinal health and neurodegeneration. Prostaglandins are important therapeutic targets, as both their inhibition and amplification have significant clinical relevance. For example, inhibition of prostaglandin formation is the mechanism of action underlying all non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs), while prostaglandin mimetics — which reduce intraocular pressure — serve as the primary topical treatments for glaucoma.
The Gronert and Flanagan Labs discovered that the healthy retina and optic nerve produce exceptionally high levels of a specific prostaglandin, PGD 2. Despite its abundance, the role of PGD 2, its receptors, and its downstream signaling in retinal health and disease remains almost entirely unexplored. Preliminary findings have already begun to illuminate its importance — inhibition of PGD 2 formation was found to amplify retinal ganglion cell degeneration in animal models of glaucoma, while targeted receptor activation of PGD 2 signaling proved neuroprotective. Over the course of this 4-year project, Karsten Gronert and co-investigator Shruthi Karnam, aim to define the essential role of PGD 2 and its receptors in maintaining retinal health and to establish therapeutic amplification of PGD 2 – receptor signaling as a new neuroprotective strategy against retinal ganglion cell degeneration.