2019/01/23
Keio University School of Medicine
Rohto Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd.
A research group from the Department of Ophthalmology, Keio University School of Medicine, led by Professor Kazuo Tsubota, Project Associate Professor Toshihide Kurihara, and Kiwako Mori (a third-year student in the Doctoral Programs at the Graduate School of Medicine), has been collaborating with Rohto Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd. (Headquarters: Osaka City; Chairman and CEO: Kunio Yamada) to study methods for suppressing the progression of myopia.
The research group at the Keio University School of Medicine has now confirmed for the first time in the world that "crocetin," a pigment component derived from gardenia fruit, increases the expression of "EGR-1," a gene associated with the suppression of myopia progression. They also found that in a myopia induction model, crocetin significantly suppresses "axial elongation" and "changes in refractive error," which are indicators of myopia progression. These research findings offer new insights suggesting that crocetin may suppress the progression of myopia, and it is hoped that further development of these findings will lead to the creation of products useful for suppressing myopia progression in children.
These research findings were published in the online edition of the interdisciplinary general journal "Scientific Reports" on January 22 (Greenwich Mean Time).
For the full press release, please see below.