Nicotinamide, a form of vitamin B3, can prevent aggressive cell transformations during wound healing and may be key to fibrotic eye disease therapies, a new study has shown.
The Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai study findings apply when retinal pigment epithelium cells transform and develop the characteristics of more aggressive cells known as mesenchymal cells. The condition can be triggered by aging, diabetes or trauma and causes development of fibrous membranes that resemble damaging cells found in retinal scar tissue and can lead to retinal detachment, said researchers.
Nicotinamide not only prevents these cell transformations but can also reverse them from mesenchymal to epithelial, helping to preserve the cell's original identity and slowing down eye disease development, said Assistant Professor Timothy Blenkinsop, study co-lead investigator.
“This is the first study that shows how nicotinamide can inhibit invasive wound healing, but also reverse the development of membranes associated with scar tissue. This discovery helps evolve our understanding of wound healing, as well as good inflammation versus bad inflammation. Good inflammation essentially nudges the system into a regenerative response, while bad inflammation can create harmful scar tissue formation. This is an exciting time to understand how this compound can be used to treat and reverse not only fibrotic diseases of the retina but other diseases too."
The researchers also identified epigenetic and molecular changes occurring during the cell transition process. Nicotinamide therapy resulted in widespread changes in the DNA sequence of the cells, causing changes in more than 40,000 identified chromosomal regions and it was associated with a massive reorganisation of cell patterns, especially with inducing enhancer elements that lead the cell stage change in the retina.
