Biomed Radio - Washington University School Of Medicine In St. Louis

Vision problems can be caused by neurofibromatosis. Kids with mutations in the NF1 gene that causes neurofibromatosis often develop tumors on the optic nerve, but not all of them develop vision problems. Interestingly, Washington University researchers previously had learned that girls with tumors on the nerve were five to 10 times more likely to lose vision than boys with tumors of about the same size. Now those same researchers have found, in mice, that estrogen is the reason that females with these tumors are more likely to lose vision. Further study showed that cells called microglia are more common and more active in the tumors females develop. Those cells make substances that are more toxic to nerve cells and, therefore, damage vision. The researchers say strategies to temporarily lower estrogen levels in children with tumors on the optic nerve may make it possible to preserve vision without the need for chemotherapy to shrink such tumors. TUMORS ON THE OPTIC NERVE ARE A COMMON FEATURE OF A GENETIC CON