Health News: Innovative dry eye disease drug candidate 'RCI1001' regains spotlight
Young Doctors: Professor Kim Dong-hyun demonstrates efficacy of dry eye drug candidate 'RCI001'
Medical Journal: Gil Hospital re-validates efficacy of innovative dry eye drug candidate 'RCI1001'
'RCI001,' which inhibits Rac1, a cell signaling molecule, is a patented compound that improves the major symptoms of dry eye disease including inflammation control, minimal eye irritation, and rapid recovery of corneal epithelium.
Currently, steroid eye drops are used in various ocular surface diseases including dry eye disease treatments. Steroid eye drops have excellent anti-inflammatory effects and provide superior short-term efficacy compared to other medications, but their long-term use is limited in actual clinical settings due to side effects such as increased intraocular pressure and cataracts.
In this study, Professor Kim's team confirmed the inhibitory effects of 'RCI001' on 'Rac1' and 'NLRP3 inflammasome (an inflammation-inducing immune protein).' First, topical treatment with 'RCI001' in an immune-overactivated LPS (Lipopolysaccharide) mouse model confirmed suppression of Rac1 expression and reduction of inflammatory cytokine expression.
In an alkali-induced mouse eye injury model, 'RCI001' showed faster corneal damage recovery compared to conventional steroid formulations. In addition, it demonstrated reduced transcription and protein expression of Rac1 signaling molecules and the inflammatory complex 'NLRP3' in the corneal tissue of this model.