For the first time in the history of medicine, genetic engineering was used to restore partial vision in a blind person: by “correcting” the ganglion cells of the retina, American scientists made them photosensitive again. The research is published in the journal Nature.
A 58-year-old man went blind at the age of 18 as a result of retinitis pigmentosa. This genetic disease disrupts the function of cells that capture light, transform it and transmit signals to the brain through the optic nerve.
Geneticists altered the cells so that the production of channel rhodopsins – ChrimsonR’s light-sensitive proteins – began again. Photoreceptors were not affected by therapy.
To bring the “tool” to the right place, the researchers injected into a man’s eye an adenovirus with a gene that encodes a protein that can perceive the yellowish spectrum. Five months later, the man was given special glasses that project visual images onto the retina in this spectrum, and underwent a training course.
In the seventh month of the experiment, the patient reported that he slowly began to see again. With glasses, he could see a laptop, paper clip boxes, glass glasses, stripes at a pedestrian crossing, and more.
According to the authors of the therapy, his brain “learned a new language” – began to compare atypical new signals from the retina with the picture of the outside world. The electroencephalogram proved that the brain did indeed respond to visual signals from the eye.
See also: Doctors have edited genes in the body of a living person for the first time: they treat blindness
“For the first time in history, a patient reported any improvement with optogenetics,” the authors of the therapy rejoice. They believe their technique has the potential to work for the entire spectrum of such disorders.
The authors warned that vision will not recover enough for him to read or recognize faces: this requires a very high resolution, which is not yet possible with such technology.
However, MedicalXpress writes that even the level of vision that has been achieved is “incredibly important to the daily life of a blind person,” they say. Now a man can, due to his sight, detect large obstacles on the way, and not with the help of a blind man’s cane.
Geneticists clarified that this patient is not the only one to whom the gene instrument was injected. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, volunteers were unable to come to the health centers and train normally: “We don’t know how well this will work with others, but the proof-of-concept is really impressive.”
- In 2018, Chinese scientist He Jiankui, after using CRISPR, reported that twin girls Lulu and Nana were born with modified DNA that makes them resistant to HIV. At the beginning of 2020, he and his partners were sentenced to imprisonment and a fine.
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