Blind Man Sees Again: First Ever Vision Restored Through Gene Therapy

For the first time, a blind man gets to see again and that's because of a gene therapy doctors used to restore the patient's partial vision.

This latest development was recently reported by Medical Xpress, stating that the research team behind the approach genetically reformed retinal ganglion cells to become light-sensitive, of a 58-year-old man whose vision was impaired by a genetic disorder called retinitis pigmentosa, that breaks down cells that absorb and transform light into brain signals.

Through the use of special goggles, the man, this report specified, went from total blindness to being able to detect a big notebook, glass tumblers, a smaller box of staple wires, and even stripes of the street crosswalk.

Findings of the study, Partial recovery of visual function in a blind patient after optogenetic therapy, have been reported in the Nature Medicine journal's June issue.

First-Ever to Report Improvement Through 'Optogenetics'

According to Dr. Jose-Alain Sahel, the study's lead researcher and chairman of ophthalmology at the University of Pittsburgh, the 58-year-old is the first-ever patient to report "any kind of improvement through optogenetics," which, the lead researcher added, is the gene therapy that made cells sensitive to light.

Meanwhile, the chief of retinal services for the Mount Sinai Health System in New York City, Dr. Richardson Rosen, considered the report quite exciting news.

This, he, who was not part of the research said, works for potentially the entire range of patients who have these blinding illnesses which involve retinal impairment.

As indicated in the study, the human retina's structure is best described as inverted. More so, light-detecting photoreceptors are at the far retina's far back.

Ganglion cells at the front, on the other hand, are at the front are transmitting visual information from photoreceptors to the brain through the optic nerve.

Essentially, the optogenetics field, as explained in ScienceDirect, engages the cells' genetic alteration so they generate light-sensitive proteins termed as "channelrhodopsins."

Signs of Visual Improvement

In the man's case, the study investigators used optogenetics to make the ganglion cells' top layer photo-sensitive, bypassing the photoreceptors' nonfunctioning bottom layer.

Researchers then, injected a hollowed-out cold virus into the man's eye that contained the genetic coding for a channelrhodopsin which is called ChrimsonR, which is capable of sensing amber light.

The man's retinas were given five months to accept the genetic modification. After that, the researchers fitted him with a pair of special goggles that projects visual images at the amber light wavelengths onto the retina.

Sahel explained, the man needed to practice with the special goggles although, after seven months of training, he started reporting spontaneously, signs of visual improvement.

What Lies Ahead

The study authors cautioned it is not expected that the man's vision would recover enough that he could already read or recognize faces.

For face recognition, explained Dr. Botond Roska, senior researcher and founding director of the Switzerland-based Institute of Molecular and Clinical Ophthalmology Basel, a very high resolution is needed.

However, Rosen said, the amount of mission the man has attained would be incredibly essential to a blind person's everyday life. Therese are those who are totally blind that they don't see anything, he added.

A similar report from The Journal Daily said, according to the researchers, more people have been injected with this form of gene therapy.

However, the COVID-19 pandemic hindered their ability travel and go to medical centers where they could practice using their special goggles.

Because of COVID-19, said Sahel, only this man was treated in time to be able to try the special goggles, be trained and taken back to the hospital for be properly tested.

Currently, the man is hoping to receive more training and eventually use his restored vision "as much as possible" throughout his everyday life, said Sahel.

Related report about gene therapy is shown on CNBC's YouTube video below:

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