Gene therapy using engineered virus partially restores blind patient's vision
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By Shen Wu Tan
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The Washington Times
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Tuesday, May 25, 2021
Doctors for the first time have partially restored the vision of a blind patient using gene therapy to inject a genetically engineered virus into his eye.
Researchers performed the therapy on a 58-year-old man who was diagnosed 40 years ago with an inherited eye disease called retinitis pigmentosa, which is loss of vision due to a breakdown and loss of cells in the retina.
The optogenetics therapy, which involves controlling nerve cells via light, allowed the patient to pinpoint objects including a notebook, small staple box and tumbler he couldn’t see before when wearing light-stimulating goggles, according to the study published Monday in Nature Medicine.