{"id":247414,"date":"2026-06-17T07:30:18","date_gmt":"2026-06-17T11:30:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/?p=247414"},"modified":"2026-06-18T10:48:24","modified_gmt":"2026-06-18T14:48:24","slug":"targeting-schwann-cells-a-new-approach-to-repairing-corneal-injury","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/2026\/06\/targeting-schwann-cells-a-new-approach-to-repairing-corneal-injury\/","title":{"rendered":"Targeting Schwann\u00a0Cells:\u00a0A New Approach to Repairing Corneal\u00a0Injury"},"content":{"rendered":"

The cornea \u2013 the clear, dome-shaped outer layer of the eye \u2013\u00a0contains\u00a0more nerves per surface area than any other tissue in the human body.\u00a0Its nerve density is 300-600\u00a0times\u00a0that of the skin. These nerves are vital for\u00a0preserving eye health,\u00a0sending pain signals to let\u00a0you know\u00a0if\u00a0your eye is at risk from damage from bright light or a foreign object \u2013 and reminding you to continuously blink to prevent your eyes from drying out.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

This part of the eye is also known for being remarkably quick to heal.\u00a0It\u2019s\u00a0why\u00a0laser eye surgery patients can typically return to their daily activities within a day or two, with minimal discomfort.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Still,\u00a0a small percentage of\u00a0people experience lasting adverse effects from eye\u00a0surgery, including chronic dry eye and pain\u00a0<\/span>or deficits in pain sensation.<\/span>\u00a0Other people experience these symptoms even without having had surgery, as part of the complex condition known as \u201cdry eye.\u201d\u00a0And still others\u00a0have more serious eye injuries inflicted by\u00a0exposure to\u00a0toxic chemicals, whether household cleaning solvents or\u00a0chemical\u00a0weapons deployed in a military context.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

New research shows a promising new technique for helping the cornea heal itself in all these contexts. The findings are published<\/a> in the latest issue of the Journal of Neuroscience Research. The investigation was led by two UConn School of Medicine professors: professor of neuroscience Royce Mohan, Ph.D., and assistant professor of neuroscience Paola Bargagna-Mohan, Ph.D.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Five years ago, says\u00a0Mohan,\u00a0their\u00a0lab had the idea to look closely at Schwann cells in the cornea. These cells wrap themselves around nerve\u00a0cells, forming a protective sheath and helping signals travel along the nerves.\u00a0The researchers\u00a0hypothesized that these cells played a key role in healing the cornea\u00a0and restoring its sensory function.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThe Schwann cell had never actually been explored for what it\u2019s made up of,\u201d Mohan explains. \u201cAnd\u00a0since the cornea is clear, and there are no blood vessels, we reasoned that the Schwann cells in the cornea would be different from those\u00a0in the\u00a0vascularized\u00a0skin.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Mohan\u2019s lab set to work isolating these corneal Schwann cells, using a technique called single-cell RNA sequencing analysis to\u00a0determine\u00a0what genes they expressed. In the process, they\u00a0found\u00a0a gene called DKK1 (Dickkopf\u00a0WNT signaling pathway inhibitor 1), which\u00a0researchers had never seen Schwann cells express before.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Excited by this finding, they developed a DKK1 inhibitor that could be topically applied to the eye. Sure enough, they found that this inhibitor helped repair damage\u00a0from both physical injury (a small incision\u00a0similar to\u00a0the one made by a laser eye surgeon) and chemical injury (exposure to\u00a0nitrogen mustard) in mouse models.\u00a0These\u00a0DKK1 inhibitor\u00a0treated mice regained corneal sensation as the DKK1 inhibitor promoted Schwann cell and axon regeneration in both injury models.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWe are very excited about this as a promising avenue,\u201d says Mohan. \u201cNo one has ever shown a therapeutic target for Schwann cells in the cornea \u2013 other cell types have been targeted and shown to benefit injuries, but the Schwann cell has been neglected for many, many decades.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

In addition to the excitement of pushing the boundaries of scientific discovery, these researchers are especially enthusiastic\u00a0about the possibility for speedy translation into a product that can\u00a0benefit\u00a0real human patients and consumers.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

A major challenge in the ophthalmic drug delivery field is that it is hard to\u00a0get\u00a0a topical\u00a0<\/span>solution to stay in the eye.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWhen you blink,\u00a0over\u00a090% of that drug is washed out immediately\u00a0with the tear fluid,\u201d\u00a0Mohan\u00a0says.\u00a0\u201cSo\u00a0the ophthalmic industry has been experimenting with formulations that would allow the drug to better get into the eye, especially into the\u00a0deeper\u00a0stromal\u00a0tissue, where the Schwann cell\u00a0network is found. That was one of the\u00a0key innovations\u00a0we also introduced in this paper \u2013 a\u00a0better way to deliver the drug.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The patent-pending topical formulation developed by Mohan\u2019s lab encapsulates the DKK1 inhibitor using micelles. Eventually, when used by humans via eyedrops, this technology would allow the effective delivery of more of the drug without the need for constant reapplication.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

“Cornea damage is notoriously difficult to repair, and this work is a promising novel approach to addressing the issue,” says Christopher Conners, Ph.D., Director of Licensing for Life Sciences at UConn’s Technology Commercialization Services (TCS)<\/a>, who helped evaluate this treatment and develop a strategy for its protection and commercialization. “At TCS, we are proud to support the development of groundbreaking treatments like this that can make a real difference in the lives of patients.”<\/span><\/p>\n

Since Mohan believes that \u201cscience needs to put something in\u00a0patients\u2019\u00a0hands,\u201d\u00a0he emphasizes that this drug could help people not only improve eye health and\u00a0comfort,<\/span>\u00a0but\u00a0also preserve vision.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

When cornea injuries do not heal properly, they can\u00a0scar, potentially permanently reducing vision. Mohan is hopeful that this new therapy can\u00a0help in these cases,\u00a0when administered during the\u00a0initial\u00a0healing period.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

For the mouse eyes exposed to\u00a0nitrogen mustard, Mohan says, \u201cwe found the untreated eyes began to\u00a0scar. … But when treated with the DKK1 inhibitor, we found these eyes to have better clarity. We were achieving the cardinal functions of the cornea: transparency and sensory function.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Nitrogen mustard is\u00a0chemically\u00a0similar to\u00a0sulfur mustard, more commonly known as mustard gas. This\u00a0infamous chemical weapon\u00a0was\u00a0used in World Wars I and II with the intention of blinding soldiers. While it\u00a0has been\u00a0prohibited under international law\u00a0for several decades,\u00a0there are verified twenty-first\u2013century\u00a0instances of its use,\u00a0such as in the Syrian civil war.\u00a0Thus, understanding how people can heal and recover vision\u00a0in the event of\u00a0a mustard gas attack or other toxic chemical exposure is of interest to the Department of Homeland Security, which has supported Mohan\u2019s research in this area.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

In addition to Mohan\u00a0and\u00a0Bargagna-Mohan, the other named authors on this study\u00a0are\u00a0or were\u00a0members of\u00a0the\u00a0lab:\u00a0first authors\u00a0Michael Li\u00a0\u201825\u00a0MD\u00a0and\u00a0Christian A. Tallo\u00a0’26 MD, Mary Katherine Eddy\u00a0(undergraduate\u00a0University Scholar);\u00a0Aarush Kolli\u00a0\u201824;\u00a0and\u00a0Ricky Paramo\u00a0\u201823 MD.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Mohan’s research on\u00a0corneal damage\u00a0has been\u00a0supported by\u00a0<\/span>the National Institutes of Health (National Eye Institute grant R21EY031113 and Office of the Director [OD] grants R21EY032741 and R01EY037664). <\/span>Mohan also\u00a0credits support from the\u00a0<\/span>Connecticut Lions Eye Research Foundation<\/span><\/a>\u00a0and the\u00a0John A. and Florence Mattern Solomon Chair in Vision Biology and Eyes Diseases at the UConn Health Center for enabling this\u00a0innovation.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

New publication from UConn Health researchers demonstrates promising technique for healing damage from dry eye, surgery, and toxin exposure<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":175,"featured_media":247415,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"wds_primary_category":0,"wds_primary_series":0,"wds_primary_attribution":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2460,2231,2288,2648,2076,1868,2364,2235,179],"tags":[],"magazine-issues":[],"coauthors":[2413],"class_list":["post-247414","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-faculty","category-health-well-being","category-neurology","category-blue-research","category-research","category-meds","category-technology-commercialization","category-today-homepage","category-uconn-health"],"pp_statuses_selecting_workflow":false,"pp_workflow_action":"current","pp_status_selection":"publish","acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-08-25 15:42:38","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/247414","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/users\/175"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=247414"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/247414\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":247696,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/247414\/revisions\/247696"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/media\/247415"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=247414"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=247414"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=247414"},{"taxonomy":"magazine-issue","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/magazine-issues?post=247414"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=247414"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}