Tear production begins with a gland, but the decision to produce tears is partly a neurological event. To understand why, it helps to follow the path of a signal. The cornea is densely supplied with sensory nerve endings that continually monitor conditions at the ocular surface. When those nerves detect changes such as evaporation, cooling, […]
The ocular surface is exposed to the outside world every moment the eyes are open. Wind, temperature, evaporation, airborne particles, light, and the mechanical movement of the eyelids all create potential sources of stress. Yet most of the time, we are barely aware of any of them. That apparent quiet depends on an extraordinarily sensitive […]
Patients recovering from an allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplant become accustomed to milestones. Days, weeks, and months after transplantation carry meaning. Laboratory values are tracked. Medications change. Infection risks evolve. Follow-up schedules shift. It would be convenient if ocular GVHD followed an equally predictable timetable. It does not. Chronic oGVHD often emerges after the immediate […]
When ocular symptoms appear after an allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplant, one of the first questions is often whether something has changed. That question is much easier to answer when clinicians know where the patient started. A pre-transplant ophthalmic evaluation can establish a baseline picture of the ocular surface before the immune and systemic changes […]
How do you measure the severity of a disease when the clinical examination tells only part of the story? That problem has shaped the way ocular graft-versus-host disease is assessed. In chronic GVHD, the National Institutes of Health developed an organ scoring system that includes the eyes. The ocular score ranges from no symptoms to […]
When we think about dry eye, it is natural to focus on quantity. Does the eye produce enough tears? That question matters, particularly in oGVHD, where lacrimal gland damage can cause profound aqueous tear deficiency. But the amount of fluid present is only one part of normal tear function. The tear film must also remain […]
The cornea is transparent by design. That is essential for vision, but it can make early surface damage difficult to appreciate with the naked eye. Ocular surface staining gives clinicians a way to make some of that damage visible. During an eye examination, a diagnostic dye such as fluorescein can be applied to the ocular […]
During a Schirmer test, a small strip of filter paper is placed inside the lower eyelid. As tears wet the paper, clinicians can measure how far the moisture travels over a set period of time. The result provides an estimate of aqueous tear production. In oGVHD, that information can be important because the lacrimal glands […]
Ocular graft-versus-host disease can be difficult to diagnose for the same reason it can be difficult to live with: it does not present in exactly the same way in every patient. One person may develop profound tear deficiency after allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation. Another may have more prominent inflammation, corneal staining, eyelid disease, or […]
Scleral lenses are not a cure for oGVHD, but they teach an important lesson about ocular surface protection. Unlike standard contact lenses, scleral lenses vault over the cornea and rest on the sclera, the white part of the eye. This design can create a fluid reservoir over the corneal surface. In patients with severe ocular […]
Signal12 is a Phase 3-ready ophthalmic drug company. Our proprietary topical drug, Pro-ocular™, has proven safe and effective in Phase 2 clinical studies, demonstrating significant reductions in the signs and symptoms of ocular Graft-versus-Host Disease (oGvHD)—a chronic, debilitating condition following an allogeneic stem cell transplant. Pro-ocular™ is the only effective treatment for oGvHD, employing transappendageal delivery to precisely target the ophthalmic branch of the trigeminal nerve
Signal12 is actively raising capital to complete its Phase 3 clinical trials and bring Pro-ocular™ to market. For information on investment opportunities, please email Neil Edwards at nedwards@signal12inc.com. The company has offices in Greenwich, CT and Boston, MA.
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