A blind man has had his vision partially restored using optogenetic therapy and engineered goggles — the first successful case of such therapy in humans.
Researchers treated a 58-year-old man who for 40 years had been suffering from retinitis pigmentosa — a neurodegenerative eye disease where loss of photoreceptors can lead to complete blindness.
Retinitis pigmentosa changes how the retina responds to light, making it hard to see, and people with the condition lose their vision slowly over time, according to the American Academy of Ophthalmology.
Scientists used a form of gene therapy to reprogram cells in the eye’s retina, injecting it with a viral vector and making it light sensitive. “In optogenetic therapy… we create an artificial photosensitive layer in this blind retina,” researcher Botond Roska, professor in the faculty of science at the University of Basel, explained at a press briefing.
Months after the injection, researchers equipped the patient with engineered goggles which detected changes in light intensity, and would project corresponding light pulses onto the eye’s retina to activate the treated cells.
Although the patient couldn’t recognize faces or read following the treatment, he was able to perceive, locate, count and touch objects using his treated eye alone while wearing the goggles, researchers said in a study published Monday in the journal Nature Medicine.
Read more at CNN.
{Matzav.com}
Many people have become blind from the shot. Hope he won’t take it.