Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation

Drug Discovery & Development
Drug Discovery Development
Mouse Model of Diabetes
WARF: P04228US

Inventors: Nader Sheibani-Karkhaneh, Christine Sorenson

The Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (WARF) is seeking commercial partners interested in a line of TSP1 negative mice that provide an animal model for diabetic retinopathy.
Overview
There is a lack of effective and non-destructive treatments for diabetic retinopathy, a major cause of blindness in the United States. Thrombospondin1 (TSP1), a matricellular protein that inhibits angiogenesis in vivo and is essential for proper retinal vascular development, is dramatically down-regulated in ocular samples from diabetic rats.
The Invention
Based on this observation, UW-Madison researchers developed a line of TSP1 negative mice that provide an animal model for diabetic retinopathy. They crossed Akita/+ mice that develop diabetes between three and four weeks of age with TSP1 -/- mice. The resulting Akita/+ TSP1 -/- mice develop diabetes-associated vasculopathies of greater severity and at a much earlier stage of diabetes than the Akita/+ mice. These mice also show a dramatic increase in acellular capillaries and saccular microaneurysms, which are some of the early signs of diabetic retinopathy.
Applications
  • Testing the effects of new compounds for treating diabetic retinopathy
  • Studying the many vasculopathies associated with diabetes
Key Benefits
  • Mice become useful models by six months of age, avoiding issues with drug testing in aged mice
  • Mice may develop proliferative retinopathy (the final stage of diabetic retinopathy), which has never been demonstrated in rodent models of diabetes
Additional Information
For More Information About the Inventors
For current licensing status, please contact Jennifer Gottwald at [javascript protected email address] or 608-960-9854

WARF