A Step Forward to Achieve Clearer Vision: How Aspirin May Help Protect Our Eyes

Cataracts and age-related vision changes affect hundreds of millions of people worldwide. While surgery can restore sight, there is still no simple medicine to slow or prevent the clouding and stiffening of the eye’s natural lens. In a collaborative study, Dr. Sandip K. Nandi and  Dr. Woormileela Sinha, from the Department of Chemistry, BITS Pilani, K. K. Birla Goa Campus, worked alongside Dr. Neeti Gupta and Dr. Sanjeev Kumar Mittal from the Department of Ophthalmology, All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), Rishikesh to explore an unexpected ally in this fight: aspirin, the everyday pain reliever long trusted for fever, pain, and heart health. Their research reveals how this familiar drug could help keep the eye lens clear and delay the onset of cataracts. 

Why the Lens Loses Its Clarity and Flexibility

The human lens is remarkable. It is built from tightly packed proteins called crystallins, which must remain transparent and pliable, so light can pass through and the eye can focus on objects near and far. With age, however, the lens proteins undergoes subtle changes owing to thermal, radiation and chemical stress. These cause stiffening of the lens, making it harder to change shape which is a condition called presbyopia. Furthermore, these changes gradually reduce protein solubility, meaning the crystallins no longer remain soluble. Insoluble clumps begin to scatter light, creating the cloudy vision of cataracts. 

Aspirin Steps Beyond Pain Relief

Aspirin has long been valued for reducing pain, fever, and the risk of heart attacks. But the scientists asked a new question: could aspirin’s chemistry help prevent the protein changes that cloud and harden the lens? Aspirin can attach small acetyl groups to proteins, making lens crystallin resolubilise, thereby inhibiting protein aggregation and lens stiffening.

The Lens’s Own Bodyguard: αB-Crystallin

Among the many crystallins, one stands out as a natural protector which is the αB-crystallin. It acts like a molecular chaperone, keeping other proteins folded correctly and stopping them from clumping when under stress. But human lens tends to lose all its soluble αB-crystallin by age of 50 years, which weakens lens to maintain clearer vision. The researchers found that aspirin acetylates αB-crystallin and improve its chaperone activity. By preserving this built-in defence system, aspirin provides a double layer of protection as it safeguards both the structural proteins that maintain transparency and the guardian protein that keeps the lens clear.

Putting Aspirin to the Test

To explore these ideas, the scientists worked with purified lens proteins under controlled laboratory conditions. They incubated the proteins with and without aspirin. Over time, the untreated proteins became cloudy and formed large aggregates, just as they do in an aging eye. In contrast, the aspirin-treated samples stayed clearer and more soluble. Measurements of mouse lens stiffness confirmed that aspirin slowed stiffening of lens. Structural studies showed that the proteins kept their natural flexibility, altogether suggesting that aspirin also helps prevent the stiffening associated with presbyopia.

A Protective Effect on Multiple Fronts

The experiments revealed that aspirin acts in several reinforcing ways.

• It maintains the solubility of lens proteins, preventing light-scattering clumps.

• It preserves the chaperone activity of αB-crystallin so the lens can defend itself.

• It slows lens stiffening that leads to presbyopia.

By addressing both the clarity and the flexibility of the lens, aspirin tackles the two major age-related threats to healthy vision.

Why This Matters for Global Eye Health

Cataract surgery is effective but not always available or affordable, particularly in low-resource regions. Presbyopia, meanwhile, affects nearly everyone after midlife and has no cure beyond corrective lenses. Because aspirin is inexpensive and already well understood for safety, repurposing it for eye health could move far more quickly than developing an entirely new drug. Even a modest delay in cataract formation or lens stiffening could have a profound impact on quality of life and reduce the burden on healthcare systems worldwide.

The Road Ahead

The researchers emphasize that their findings are an early but important step. Their work was performed in carefully controlled laboratory models, and the next stages will require animal studies and clinical trials to confirm how aspirin reaches and acts within the human lens. Determining the right dosage, frequency, and possibly new delivery methods such as eye drops or specially formulated tablets will be essential before aspirin can be recommended as a preventive treatment.

This study from BITS Pilani, K. K. Birla Goa Campus illustrates the power of looking at well-known medicines in new ways. Aspirin began its life as a simple pain reliever and heart protector, yet it now shows promise in preserving the very proteins that keep our eyes clear and flexible. By blocking damaging chemical changes, supporting αB-crystallin, and maintaining lens solubility and softness, aspirin could one day help people around the world keep their vision sharper for longer. If future research confirms these results, aspirin may become a key ally in preventing both cataracts and the age-related loss of near focus that affects so many of us as we grow older.