DeCure for Visual impairment and progressive phthisis bulbi
DeCure's autonomous Rare AI scientist is researching a drug-repurposing hypothesis for visual impairment and progressive phthisis bulbi — screening already-approved drugs against its 1-gene Open Targets disease module to publish open-access research. Research is fast; the path to publication is funded in milestone stages.
Disease moduleVisual impairment and progressive phthisis bulbi maps to a 1-gene Open Targets module — the target space DeCure's AI scientist screens approved drugs against.
DeCure.ai methodSignature reversal (LINCS) plus network proximity (STRING) rank already-approved drugs likely to perturb this module — the same engine that produces DeCure.ai's repurposing hypotheses.
Repurposing thesisScreening approved medicines against this disease module, then publishing the evidence for the strongest candidate. Known pharmacology and human exposure data make the first question sharper — they do not establish safety or efficacy in a new indication.
Research record
01
ResearchComing soon
Candidate research + dossier — target rationale, drug-repurposing thesis and evidence pack.proof: Published dossier + on-chain hash
02
ValidationComing soon
In-vitro biological validation at a contract research org (CRO).proof: CRO contract + in-vitro report
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Peer review & paperComing soon
Peer-reviewed paper published open-access (preprint + journal).proof: DOI + open-access link + on-chain hash
Current lead
No approved-drug candidate for visual impairment and progressive phthisis bulbi is corroborated in the literature DeepSearch retrieved. Some conditions are managed with non-pharmacological care — a device, surgery or physical therapy — rather than a medicine; that may be the case here, or the literature we found may simply be too sparse yet to support a drug-repurposing angle.
Molecular view
microtubule affinity regulating kinase 3 (MARK3) — MARK3 is one of the genes genetically linked to this disease in Open Targets — shown as context, not as a drug target we're pursuing: no approved-drug candidate for this disease is yet corroborated in the literature we found.
Loading structure…
helix sheet 6mdrag to rotate · scroll to zoom
RCSB Protein Data Bank · entry 8UOJ · 1.6 Å · ligand (6M)-4-{[(2R)-azepan-2-yl]methyl}-6-[(4R)-imidazo[1,2-a]pyridin-3-yl]-2H-pyrido[3,2-b][1,4]oxazin-3(4H)-one (X5I). Experimental structure, not a prediction.
What the evidence adds up to
In a uveitis clinic at Moorfields Eye Hospital, a cross-sectional study of 4,000 patients found that 333 had severe visual loss (8.3%), and 64 of those (19%) had phthisis bulbi. Among the 65 affected eyes, 78% had no perception of light. Uveitis was the most common cause (28%), followed by trauma and infection. The mean time from the initiating event to phthisis was 2.9 years overall, but for uveitis it was significantly longer at 6.4 years compared to 1.4 years for trauma and 0.9 years for infection. Sympathetic ophthalmia occurred in 17% of phthisis patients; notably, 7 of 8 patients who developed it after a penetrating injury had already undergone early enucleation, suggesting that prophylactic enucleation does not prevent sympathetic ophthalmia.
A ten-year retrospective review at a Nigerian tertiary centre identified 79 patients with unilateral phthisis bulbi. The most common cause was trauma (46.8%), then infection (21.5%), then uveitis or inflammation (13.9%). 88.6% of patients had morbidities in their fellow eye, including glaucoma (32.9%), refractive errors (29.1%), and cataract (27.9%). 50.6% of patients were visually impaired or blind in the fellow eye. A 2009 case report describes visual rehabilitation in a young patient with pre-phthisis bulbi from Vogt-Koyanagi-Harada disease; after clinical treatment, surgery, and optical device training, the patient was reintegrated into social life, but the report provides no quantitative outcome data.
A 2024 study examined 33 patients with unilateral endogenous uveitis complicated by phthisis bulbi. The authors developed a multiple regression model based on Doppler ultrasound measurements of the ophthalmic and short posterior ciliary arteries to predict reduction in the anterior-posterior size of the eye. In 15 patients followed for at least one year without treatment, the model correctly predicted progression in 13 (86.7%). The study does not report any intervention or change in clinical outcome.
What is still missing is a prospective trial testing any specific drug or intervention to halt or reverse phthisis bulbi. The existing evidence is observational and descriptive, with no randomised treatment data. Patient stratification by haemodynamic profile, as proposed in the 2024 model, has not been validated in a separate cohort, and no funding source for such a trial is mentioned in these abstracts.
Evidence
Retrieved by DeepSearch across 234,678,978 indexed works and resolved on OpenAlex — ranked by citations, including the results that did not work.
Acta Ophthalmologica · 2011 · 15 citations · open access
Prevalence and causes of phthisis bulbi in a uveitis clinic
AbstractEditor, Phthisis bulbi occurs as the end-stage of severe ocular disease and describes a soft collapsed globe containing atrophic and disorganised intraocular structures. There is little in the literature pertaining to the development of phthisis following ocular inflammation (Saeed et al. 2006; Setlur et al. 2010), so we performed a cross-sectional study of 4,000 patients attending a uveitis clinic at Moorfields Eye Hospital to identify patients with severe visual loss and phthisis. Severe visual loss was defined as a best-corrected visual acuity of 20/200 or worse (Jabs et al. 2005), and ocular phthisis was defined as a soft and shrunken globe with evidence of structural disorganisation. A total of 333 patients were identified with severe visual loss, indicating a prevalence of 8.3%. Sixty-four of these patients (65 eyes) were diagnosed with phthisis (19%). 51/65 eyes had no perception of light (78%), 10 eyes had perception of light (15%), and four eyes had hand movements vision (6%). 27/64 patients (42%) had visual loss in the other eye, of whom half had severe visual loss (SVL), rendering them legally blind. The mean age at onset of phthisis was 54 years (range 17–97 years) with a Male/Female ratio of 1.3:1. The causes of phthisis are indicated in Table 1. The most common cause was non-infective uveitis, followed by trauma, ocular infection and ocular surgery. Phthisis occurred at mean 2.9 years (range 0–23) after the initiating event, but patients developing phthisis from uveitis took significantly longer to do so at 6.4 ± 7.2 years (mean± SEM), compared with trauma (1.4 ± 4.3 years) and infection (0.9 ± 1.2 years) (p = 0.03, Fisher’s exact test). 11/64 patients (17%) were diagnosed with sympathetic ophthalmia. This followed a penetrating eye injury to the other eye in 8/11 patients (73%), of whom seven had had an early enucleation; it followed retinal detachment surgery in the other three patients (27%). 4/11 patients (36%) with sympathetic ophthalmia suffered visual loss, and 3/11 (27%) had SVL; none of the exciting eyes maintained vision. Uveitis was the main cause of phthisis in our study, accounting for 28% of cases, closely followed by trauma and infection. The interval between the time of diagnosis and the development of phthisis was the longest in the uveitis group. Sympathetic ophthalmia developed in 17% of our patients with phthisis, but 7/8 patients in whom it followed a penetrating injury had had an early enucleation, supporting recent evidence that prophylactic enucleation does not prevent the development of sympathetic ophthalmia (Kilmartin et al. 2000; Zhang et al. 2009). Encouragingly, most patients retained good functional acuity, 64% maintaining visual acuity of 20/40 or better, and 73% maintaining visual acuity of better than 20/200.
African Health Sciences · 2021 · 6 citations · open access
Distribution of phthisis bulbi and status of fellow eyes at a tertiary eye-care centre in Nigeria: a ten-year review
AbstractBACKGROUND: Phthisis bulbi is an irreversible cause of visual loss with insufficient evidence about its aetiology and status of patients' fellow eyes. OBJECTIVES: To identify the distribution of patients with phthisis bulbi and determine the status of their fellow eyes at Obafemi Awolowo University Teaching Hospitals Complex, Ile-Ife, Nigeria. METHODS: We analysed data retrospectively retrieved from medical records of patients diagnosed with phthisis bulbi at initial clinic visit from January 2008 to December 2017. Information abstracted included biodata, laterality of phthisical eye, duration and aetiology of phthisis bulbi, visual acuity, and morbidities present in fellow eyes. RESULTS: Seventy-nine patients presented with unilateral phthisis bulbi. The mean age was 51±21.2 years and forty (50.6%) were males. The commonest aetiologies of phthisis bulbi were trauma 37 (46.8%), infection 17 (21.5%) and uveitis/inflammation 11 (13.9%). Seventy (88.6%) patients had morbidities in their fellow eye such as glaucoma 26 (32.9%), refractive errors 23 (29.1%) and cataract 22 (27.9%). Forty (50.6%) patients were either visually impaired or blind in their fellow eye (p=0.001). CONCLUSION: The commonest cause of phthisis bulbi was trauma. Approximately nine out of ten patients had ocular morbidities in their fellow eye. A thorough follow-up of patients with phthisis bulbi is recommended.
Arquivos Brasileiros de Oftalmologia · 2009 · 1 citations · open access
Visual rehabilitation in pre phthisis bulbi's patient: case report
AbstractUveitis is a group of intraocular inflammatory diseases that affects mainly patients of working age. Vogt-Koyanagi-Harada disease is a chronic, granulomatous, systemic and autoimmune disease with manifestations in the eye, skin, and hearing and nervous systems. Ocular complications include cataract, glaucoma, choroidal neovascular membrane formation, and subretinal fibrosis, which can lead to phthisis bulbi with profound low vision or even blindness. The purpose of this article is to present the visual rehabilitation of a young patient with pre phthisis bulbi as a complication of the uveitis. During the active stage of the disease the patient quit her studies in a crucial phase of her life. After clinical treatment and surgery, training program of optical device adaptation and residual visual optimization were performed. Due to the great patient's motivation, it was possible to reintegrate her to social life.
Uveitis complicated by phthisis bulbi: hemodynamic parameters in the prediction of anterior-posterior eye size reduction
AbstractBackground. Phthisis bulbi is a serious complication of uveitis, causing vision loss and esthetic defects. Hemodynamic disorders can play an important role in the formation of this complication as a result of uveitis. We did not find data on predicting the progression of phthisis bulbi with a reduction in anterior-posterior size in the available literature. Aim. To analyze the possibility of predicting the reduction in the anterior-posterior size of the eye with uveitis, complicated by phthisis bulbi, based on hemodynamic parameters Materials and Methods. 33 patients aged 5–84 years, of them 19 male and 14 female patients, with unilateral endogenous uveitis, complicated by phthisis bulbi, were examined. 15 patients with uveitis complicated by phthisis bulbi, who had not received any treatment during this time, were examined in dynamics (for at least 1 year). All patients underwent Doppler ultrasound examination of the ophthalmic artery and short posterior ciliary arteries. In addition, all patients underwent biomicroscopic and tonometric examinations, ultrasound biomicroscopy, rheoophthalmography of eyeballs, A-scan and B-scan ultrasonography. The results of the examination of eyes with uveitis complicated by phthisis bulbi were compared with the results of the examination of paired (healthy) eyes of the same patients. Results. We have developed a multiple regression model that allows us to predict a reduction in the anterior-posterior size of the eye with phthisis bulbi due to uveitis. The dynamics of the disease in 15 patients not taking any treatment for uveitis, has been monitored for more than a year. The prediction of phthisis bulbi progression was confirmed in 13 patients, which amounts to 86.7% (p<0.05). Conclusions. We have proposed a model that allows predicting the progressive or stationary course of phthisis bulbi due to uveitis based on hemodynamic parameters. Keywords: infectious uveitis, noninfectious uveitis, phthisis bulbi hemodynamic disorders, anterior-posterior size of the eyeball.
Disease module: DeepOracle (Open Targets). Structures: RDKit from PubChem SMILES. Literature: retrieved by DeepSearch across 234,678,978 indexed works (targeted per-candidate search), resolved on OpenAlex.
DeCure is a research and publication project, not medical advice and not a treatment. "DeCure for X" describes a research goal, not a claim that a cure exists. Backing a cure is a contribution to fund the research — it is not an investment, and confers no yield, royalty, equity or IP ownership. Papers are published open-access by the DeCure.ai DAO.
