New gene therapy partially restores patients’ eyesight
Year after year we also see to what extent technology helps us in researching new treatment methods and to what extent complex issues are increasingly being resolved. So it is with an interesting piece of news from the United States that could give great hope to blind people. Because researchers have now succeeded in partially restoring a man’s eyesight.
For this purpose, proteins were transplanted into the eyes of the 58-year-old man from France, which absorb light and pass it on to the visual center in the brain. Not only does that sound complicated, the research required a total of 13 years of work. But the results could one day mean that heritable forms of blindness can be treated.
For this purpose, ganglion cells are converted into new photoreceptor cells by means of gene therapy. However, since these are normally not able to absorb light, proteins from algae or microbes, for example, are used. These proteins were first used in optogenetics, which was used to test how the brain was working. The researchers assumed that this could also work for the retina, which is also a nerve.
In the first attempt, a protein was used that reacts to amber-colored light. Viruses then delivered this protein to the ganglion cells. The scientists then developed a device that can convert information into amber light. The candidate must wear the resulting glasses at all times; any information from the outside world is converted into light and sent to the eye.
In this way, images can be created in the brain, the Parisian mentioned at the beginning was able to see the stripes of a zebra crossing through his glasses after seven months. In the laboratory, researchers then distributed a certain number of beakers on a table. In 12 of 19 cases, the patient was able to correctly specify the number. Although we are still a bit away from widespread use of the technology, the scientists hope that we will soon be able to offer this technology to more people.
