Scientists studying optogenetic therapy, which is the manipulation of proteins and cells with light, say they have successfully used the procedure for the first time to give a blind patient partial vision recovery.
Scientists from Pittsburgh, Paris, France and Switzerland joined together for the study, which was published Monday in the journal Nature Medicine.
“I hope it will be a major breakthrough,” said lead author José-Alain Sahel, chair of ophthalmology at the University of Pittsburgh, the university said in a statement.
The patient in the study was diagnosed 40 years ago with retinitis pigmentosa, which the university says is a "progressive neurodegenerative disease that destroys light-sensitive cells in the retina and leads to complete blindness." Retinitis pigmentosa is caused by mutations in more than 71 different genes, so gene therapies are not all that effective.
What researchers in this study did was to activate nerve cells directly. They injected one eye with a light-sensing protein that is found in glowing algae. The proteins are said to "respond to light by changing their shape and allowing the flow of ions in and out of the cells," according to the university. Ultimately, the process causes cells to transmit signals through nerve endings to the brain.
Then, wearing a special pair of goggles that projected an image onto the retina, "the patient was able to locate, identify and count different objects using the treated eye," the university said. The patient also was eventually able to make out white stripes on a crosswalk and recognize other objects.
Researchers hope to test the procedure on more people after COVID-19 restrictions are lifted.
