Gene Therapy Restores Lost Vision

Gene Therapy Restores Lost Vision

Exhilarated scientists have announced they had used gene therapy to restore eyesight to children blighted by a rare inherited form of creeping blindness.

Youngsters were able to walk unaided around dimly-lit obstacles, take part in lessons at school without extra help- and one child saw the colour of his father’s eyes for the very first time. The revolutionary treatment targets a disease of light-catching retinal cells called Leber’s Congenital Amaurosis or LCA.

Caused by flaws in one of around 13 key genes, LCA triggers severe loss of vision and abnormal eye movements in early infancy usually leading to total blindness.

Doctors led by Professor Jean Rennet of the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine Tested a way of tackling this tragedy by inserting a corrective gene in a disabled cold virus.