Early Menopause and Glaucoma Risk

New research from Emory explores the underlying mechanisms of how early menopause may be associated with the risk of developing glaucoma. The study, published in Vision Research, examined the effects of aging and surgically induced menopause via ovariectomy on gene expression in the posterior eye and retina.

Using an approach called RNA sequencing, Andrew Feola, assistant professor of ophthalmology, and his team found that surgical menopause altered pathways in the eye associated with immune response and metabolism. Notably, they also found that surgical menopause at an earlier stage led to greater changes in gene activity compared to at a later stage, in genes associated with glaucoma.

“Factors important to how the eye responds during glaucoma are genes related to the extracellular matrix, a network of genes that play a role in tissue function and cell communication, and transforming growth factor-beta (TGF-β), which plays a role in regulating cellular processes and how a cell responds to an injury,” Feola says. “However, this effect diminished with age.” They also found that a key regulator of cell survival, the transcription factor Fos, reduced its activity following surgical menopause and with aging, suggesting a potential link to glaucoma.

These findings reinforce clinical evidence that early menopause may heighten the risk of developing glaucoma for women and highlight the importance of considering women’s health factors in glaucoma research and treatment. Understanding how menopause timing influences ocular health paves the way for targeted strategies to reduce disease risk in aging populations.