• Gene Therapy Improves Sight in UK Patients
    2 replies, posted
[quote][IMG]http://singularityhub.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/blindness-gene-therapy-banner.jpg[/IMG][/quote] [quote]With few treatments available and clear genetic causes, progressive blindness has been the focus of several types of [URL="http://singularityhub.com/2013/11/06/leading-research-hospital-spins-out-a-for-profit-company-to-bring-gene-therapy-to-market/"]gene therapy[/URL]. But doctors have previously balked at injecting therapeutic genes behind the patient’s retina, for fear of damaging the light-sensing tissue. In a recent Oxford trial [URL="http://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(13)62117-0/fulltext"]reported[/URL] in The Lancet, doctors restored sight to patients with choroideremia, a rare inherited cause of blindness that affects about 1 in 50,000 people, with a surgery that involved temporarily detaching the retina to inject mutation-free genes behind it. Of nine patients who underwent the experimental procedure, the two with the most impaired vision could read 2 – 4 additional lines on an eye chart six months later. Four patients whose eyesight was less impaired had their night vision improve after treatment. Since the results were recorded, all have continued to improve.[/quote] Source: [quote][url]http://singularityhub.com/2014/01/26/gene-therapy-improves-sight-in-uk-patients/[/url][/quote] We can rebuild [sp]their eyes[/sp]
Gene therapy is playing god, cut the funding!
Nice. Even if it's just for a certain genetic condition, as opposed to directly rejuvenating the optic nerves or light receptors via stem cells, it's still neat.
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