INHIBITION OF CELL-ADHESION TO LENS CAPSULE BY LCM-1910, AN RGD-DERIVED PEPTIDE

Opacification of the posterior lens capsule, (secondary cataract), is one of the major complications of extracapsular cataract extraction. T he lens epithelial cells remaining after surgery migrate and prolifera te along posterior capsule, and give rise to structures such as pearls and cells with contractile properties, which considerably hamper visi on. One pharmacological approach aimed at limiting this phenomenon wou ld be to stop this cell migration, thus inhibiting their proliferation . It has been shown that cells adhere and migrate on their support via adhesion molecules such as integrins. Generally, the tripeptide seque nce Arg-Gly-Asp (RGD) is the recognition motif for these receptors. In this study, cell adhesion inhibition in the presence of RGD peptides and derivatives was measured on extracellular matrix and lens capsule. One of these compounds, the -glycyl-[C-beta(H)-C-alpha-benzyl]-aspart amid-HCl] (LCM 1910), significantly inhibited cell migration at millim olar concentrations, and could be of interest in prevention of seconda ry cataract.