View clinical trials related to Retinal Disease.
Filter by:ARRON is a disease believed to be due to immune cells, cells which normally protect the body, but are now attacking the tissue in the retina and/or optic nerve. In addition, the disease may affect the nerves in the ear or other parts of the body . The affected nerves fail to respond, or respond only weakly, to stimuli causing numbing, tingling, pain, and progressive muscle weakness. If the nerves to the ear are affected, reduced hearing or deafness may result. The likelihood of progression of your disease is high. This study is designed to examine whether treating patients with high dose cyclophosphamide and rabbit ATG (drugs which reduce the function of the immune system) followed by return of previously collected blood stem cells will stop the progression of ARRON syndrome. Stem cells are undeveloped cells that have the capacity to grow into mature blood cells, which normally circulate in the blood stream. The purpose of the cyclophosphamide and rabbit ATG is to destroy the cells in the immune system which are thought to be causing this disease. The purpose of the stem cell infusion is to restore the body's blood production, which will be severely impaired by the high dose chemotherapy and to produce a normal immune system that will no longer attack the body.
The purpose of this project is to diagnose and evaluate ocular and related tissues with various diseases such as conjunctival, corneal, uveal, vitreoretinal and optic nerve disorders, ocular degenerative, metabolic or genetic diseases and tumors. These will be studied using light microscopy, electron microscopy, confocal microscopy, immunohistochemistry, molecular pathological including polymerase chain reaction and in situ hybridization, as well as measuring the functions of cellular organelles, e.g., mitochondrial function. Lymphocytes in the peripheral blood as well as other involved biopsied tissues and ocular tissue will be compared and categorized by disease. Cytokines, chemokines or growth factors and/or other released molecules in the blood and ocular fluids will be also analyzed. Elucidating the relationship between the infiltrating cells, ocular resident cells, and their products in various diseases will help us to make diagnoses and increase our understanding of human ocular disorders. Patients who require eye surgery to treat an eye disease or other disease in which the eye is involved may participate in this study. Samples of eye tissue and fluid that are normally removed and discarded during eye surgery will instead be given to researchers for study. The tissues will be examined under microscope and studied using sophisticated chemical and biological tests. Immune cells from blood samples may also be examined. These studies will help better understand and diagnose the various eye diseases and to develop more attractive therapies.