The Basque biotech company Bioftalmik, which specialises in the field of ophthalmology, has patented a new molecular non-invasive diagnosis system for detecting limbic insufficiency. This is an eye disease that causes loss of transparency of the cornea; if it affects the central area it produces a reduction in sharpness of vision and even loss of sight altogether.

Traditionally, the diagnosis of limbic insufficiency is carried out by impression cytology, in which the presence of certain calyciform cells on the surface of the cornea indicates limbic insufficiency. However, the new system devised by Bioftalmik is molecular, and it is therefore more sensitive and specific than the conventional method of impression cytology, as it enables doctors to make a reliable diagnosis and it makes it easier for them to take surgical decisions about people who will benefit from cornea and limbic transplants. It is also predicted that in the next four months this method may also give information about the degree of severity of the limbic insufficiency.

To develop this and other non-invasive systems of diagnosis, Bioftalmik has become a specialist in the extraction of genetic and proteic material using conventional impression cytology. Impression cytology is a non-invasive histochemical technique that allows doctors to harvest one or two of the outermost layers of the epithelial surface of the eye. To obtain these samples, special membranes are laid on the surface of the eye, exerting a slight pressure. In a normal cytology, the cells that stick to these membranes are dyed and analysed under a microscope. In the system designed by Bioftalmik, the impression cytology is used as a tool for obtaining genetic material from the conjunctival and corneal epithelial cells that stick to the membranes.

Bioftalmik currently offers this diagnosis as a service and is working on devising a diagnosis kit, so that other labs can carry out their own tests. They plan to have the kit on the market by the end of 2010.
Bioftalmik unveiled this new diagnosis system for limbic insufficiency at the 85th Congress of the Spanish Society for Ophthalmology (SEO), which was held from 23rd to 26th September in Santander.