# Epac1 as a novel therapeutic target for diabetic retinopathy

> **NIH NIH R01** · UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS HLTH SCI CTR HOUSTON · 2022 · $514,763

## Abstract

Each year, millions of Americans face vision loss related to diabetes. According to the U.S. Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention, more than 30 million Americans have diabetes, and a third of diabetics aged 40 or
over in the U.S. have diabetic retinopathy (DR) and related diabetic eye diseases. While the pathogenic
mechanisms underpinning the development of DR appear multifactorial and remain incompletely understood,
abnormal neovascularization is a key contributing factor, supported by the fact that therapy with anti-VEGF
(vascular endothelial growth factor) drugs has become the gold standard treatment for DR and its
complications among other interventions. Whilst anti-VEGFs demonstrate modest clinical benefits, these
drugs fail to fully attenuate clinical progression or reverse damage to the retina and have to be administered
frequently via invasive intravitreal injections over many years. Thus, there is a pressing need to develop new
therapeutic strategies to improve the treatment of this devastating disease. A better understanding of the
etiology and the molecular mechanism of DR, as well as the development of novel mechanism-based
therapeutics, will address a major unmet medical need. This study combines genetic and pharmacological
approaches to determine the functions and mechanisms of Epac1-mediated pathogenic neovascularization and
vascular dysfunction during DR development. Successful completion of our proposed studies will not only
provide new mechanistic insights into understanding cAMP/Epac1-mediated vascular remodeling but also will
lead to the discovery of a new class of in vivo pharmacological agents that can be used as lead compounds for
developing medications targeting DR and other vascular proliferative diseases.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10521113
- **Project number:** 1R01EY033319-01A1
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS HLTH SCI CTR HOUSTON
- **Principal Investigator:** XIAODONG CHENG
- **Activity code:** R01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2022
- **Award amount:** $514,763
- **Award type:** 1
- **Project period:** 2022-09-01 → 2027-06-30

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10521113

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10521113, Epac1 as a novel therapeutic target for diabetic retinopathy (1R01EY033319-01A1). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-26 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10521113. Licensed CC0.

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