Researchers Develop Gene Therapy That Could Correct a Common Form of Blindness
Science Daily(Jan. 23, 2012) — A new gene therapy method developed by University of Florida researchers has the potential to treat a common form of blindness that strikes both youngsters and adults. The technique works by replacing a malfunctioning gene in the eye with a normal working copy that supplies a protein necessary for light-sensitive cells in the eye to function.
The findings are published Jan. 23 in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences online.
Several complex and costly steps remain before the gene therapy technique can be used in humans, but once at that stage, it has great potential to change lives.
“Imagine that you can’t see or can just barely see, and that could be changed to function at some levels so that you could read, navigate, maybe even drive — it would change your life considerably,” said study co-author William W. Hauswirth, Ph.D., the Rybaczki-Bullard professor of ophthalmology in the UF College of Medicine and a professor and eminent scholar in department of molecular genetics and microbiology and the UF Genetics Institute. “Providing the gene that’s missing is one of the ultimate ways of treating disease and restoring significant visual function.”
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