Using gene therapy, researchers have shown how it might be possible to reprogram retinal nerve cells that are not light sensitive to become light sensitive. The work comes from the University of Oxford and can be read in PNAS.
Samantha de Silva, D.Phil., the lead author of the study, and colleagues used a viral vector to express the melanopsin, a light-sensitive protein, in the residual retinal cells in mice that were blind from retinitis pigmentosa. In one year, they found that the mice were able to maintain their vision and recognize objects in their environment. This meant that the cells expressing the melanopsin were capable of responding to light and sending visual signals to the brain.
"There are many blind patients in our clinics and the ability to give them some sight back with a relatively simple genetic procedure is very exciting. Our next step will be to start a clinical trial to assess this in patients," said de Silva.