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In developed nations, 50% of people older than 70 have cataracts. When cataracts interfere with vision, the only therapy is surgical removal. Cataracts form when soluble proteins (called crystallins) in the lens fold into insoluble abnormal shapes that prevent light from passing through normally. The biochemical causes for this misfolding have remained obscure.
Two international groups recently have reported discovering molecules that prevent and partially reverse this misfolding of crystallin proteins. One group discovered a small molecule that they call “compound 29.” The other discovered that a naturally produced molecule in the cholesterol synthesis pathway, lanosterol, also was effective. Both groups performed in vitro studies of lens m…