For ten years or so, a man had perceived nothing other than the difference between day and night. At 58, he partially regained his sight thanks to a unique clinical trial. He now manages, for example, to locate an object on a table. “It is not a colored perception, if we put it in a real life situation, it will be able on the tarmac to see the zebras of the pedestrian crossing“, explains Professor Isabelle Audo, professor of ophthalmology.
The patient has degenerative retinal disease. Light-sensing cells gradually die off, leading to blindness. The innovative treatment is a mixture gene therapy and light stimulation. In 2010, this technique had made it possible to improve sight in blind mice at the Institut de la vision. Scientists are continuing the tests to confirm the first results, and to find out if higher doses improve perception.
Publication in the journal Nature on 05/24
Partial recovery of visual function in a blind patient after optogenetic therapy
José-Alain Sahel, Elise Boulanger-Scemama, Chloé Pagot, Angelo Arleo, Francesco Galluppi, Joseph N Martel, Simona Degli Esposti, Alexandre Delaux, Jean-Baptiste de Saint Aubert, Caroline de Montleau, Emmanuel Gutman, Isabelle Audo, Jens Duebel, Serge Picaud, Deniz Dalkara, Laure Blouin, Magali Taiel, Botond Roska, Nature Medicine, 24th May 2021.
Lien:
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41591-021-01351-4
The website of the Institut de la Vision
https://www.institut-vision.org/fr/
–
