A Peptide Therapy for Neovascular Eye Diseases

Angiogenesis is a leading cause of eye problems among over 50s – including blindness. Conventional treatments have serious side effects, making them deeply unpleasant for patients. A new peptide therapy could provide an alternative.

Syndecans are a family of transmembrane receptors that Queen Mary researchers have extensively investigated for their role in promoting angiogenesis and for their potential as promising therapeutic targets. A small peptide region (QM107) has been derived from syndecan-2 and has been found to activate powerful antiangiogenic pathways in various ocular disease models,

QM107 targets an endogenous signalling pathway on blood vessels, which acts to stop angiogenesis. This is a completely different mechanism to existing therapies and may therefore avoid the same side effects of current treatments.

A patent has been filed and we’re actively looking for partners to license this technology to develop commercially.