Mitochondria. Credit: Flickr/Look and Feel

A US study has shown mitochondrial flavoprotein fluorescence (FPF) is increased across a broad range of inherited retinal dystrophy (IRD) patients, which could be a clinically useful disease biomarker, said researchers.

When compared to age-matched controls, FPF among 157 patients was significantly increased in those with confirmed rod-cone dystrophy, Stargardt disease, and Bardet-Biedl syndrome (BBS), but not in those with mitochondrial ATP synthase mutation. Thus FPF intensity or variability may serve as a quantifiable marker of oxidative stress, said the study team. “More studies are needed to help elucidate how this imaging modality could be implemented clinically and if there are opportunities to use FPF as a monitoring tool in these types of diseases,” said study lead Dr Elias Traboulsi, director of the Center for Genetic Eye Diseases at Cleveland Clinic Cole Eye Institute.

In 2022, a New York Eye and Ear Infirmary of Mount Sinai team also demonstrated FPF may be an objective measure for predicting glaucoma progression earlier than measuring structural damage (www.nzoptics.co.nz/articles/archive/new-imaging-flags-early-glaucoma).