Gene therapy restores vision to mice with retinal degeneration

Technique may someday treat retinitis pigmentosa, macular degeneration

Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) researchers have used gene therapy to restore useful vision to mice with degeneration of the light-sensing retinal rods and cones, a common cause of human blindness. Their report, appearing in the Oct. 14 Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, describes the effects of broadly expressing a light-sensitive protein in other neuronal cells found throughout the retina.

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Scientists identify for the first time the genes that cause blindness produced by corneal oedema

A study carried out by researchers of the UGR and the San Cecilio Teaching Hospital opens the door to new treatments for corneal oedema and will even allow to modify the affected genes by means of gene therapy.
The work was published in the month of May in the renowned journal “Experimental Eye Research”. UGR News Scientists of the University of Granada (Spain) and the San Cecilio Teaching Hospital (Granada) have determined for the first time the causes for the blindness produced by corneal oedema and have identified the genes which cause it. The research group of Tissue Engineering of the UGR and the San Cecilio University Hospital, who has recently constructed the first complete artificial cornea, has established in a research work which has just been published in the journal Experimental Eye Research new findings related to blindness caused by corneal oedema originated by the alteration of the cell barrier of corneal endothelium. When the endothelial cell barrier is unharmed, the cornea remains dehydrated and transparent.

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Gene therapy prevents blindness in an animal model of mitochondrial dysfunction

Scientists have created an animal model suitable for testing and validating gene therapies for treatment of a common mitochondrial dysfunction that causes loss of vision. The research, published by Cell Press in the September issue of the American Journal of Human Genetics, describes an innovation that represents a significant advance toward development of the first treatment for one of the many devastating disorders caused by mitochondrial disruption.

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Mutation found in canine gene may help develop therapies for humans with blindness

Cone-rod dystrophies (CRDs) are a group of eye diseases caused by progressive loss of the photoreceptor cells in the retina. In a study published online in Genome Research (www.genome.org), researchers have identified a novel mutation in a gene associated with CRD in dogs, raising hopes that potential therapies can be developed for people suffering from these eye disorders.

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Anti-HIV drugs reduce the cause of some forms of vision loss

A potential new therapeutic use for anti-HIV drugs known as protease inhibitors has been suggested by a team of researchers from Harvard Medical School, Boston, and Inserm U848, France, as a result of their work in a mouse model of retinal detachment.

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Gene therapy improves vision in patients with congenital retinal disease

Patients’ vision improved from detecting hand movements to reading lines on eye chart
In a clinical trial at The Childrens Hospital of Philadelphia, researchers from The University of Pennsylvania have used gene therapy to safely restore vision in three young adults with a rare form of congenital blindness. Although the patients have not achieved normal eyesight, the preliminary results set the stage for further studies of an innovative treatment for this and possibly other retinal diseases.

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Blood vessel protein reverses macular degeneration, diabetic retinopathy in mice

Discovery opens path for drugs to treat, prevent devastating eye diseases

Two major eye diseases and leading causes of blindnessage-related macular degeneration and diabetic retinopathycan be reversed or even prevented by drugs that activate a protein found in blood vessel cells, researchers at the University of Utah School of Medicine and several other institutions have announced in a new study.

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‘Lazy eye’ treatment shows promise in adults

New data, based on a finding first reported in 2006, suggest a simple and effective therapy for amblyopia. Clinical use will depend on optometry community
New evidence from a laboratory study and a pilot clinical trial confirms the promise of a simple treatment for amblyopia, or lazy eye, according to researchers from the U.S. and China.

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Contact lenses with circuits, lights a possible platform for superhuman vision

Movie characters from the Terminator to the Bionic Woman use bionic eyes to zoom in on far-off scenes, have useful facts pop into their field of view, or create virtual crosshairs. Off the screen, virtual displays have been proposed for more practical purposes — visual aids to help vision-impaired people, holographic driving control panels and even as a way to surf the Web on the go.
The device to make this happen may be familiar. Engineers at the University of Washington have for the first time used manufacturing techniques at microscopic scales to combine a flexible, biologically safe contact lens with an imprinted electronic circuit and lights.

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Cost of glaucoma medications may impact treatment

In the United States, the management of glaucoma costs about $2.5 billion per year. Of the $1.9 billion in direct costs, glaucoma medications account for an estimated 38% to 52% of the total. In an article published in the January 2008 issue of the American Journal of Ophthalmology, researchers from The Texas A&M University System Health Science Center College of Medicine, Temple, Texas; analyzed the economics of medically managing glaucoma. The yearly costs to patients of various topical glaucoma medications were calculated and significant price differences and increases in cost over time were found.

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