Gene Therapy Creates a New Fovea

[BadgerKid]

Treatment leads to an unexpected improvement in vision for one patient.

By Emily Singer

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The patient, who remains anonymous, suffers from a disease called Leber congenital amaurosis, in which an abnormal protein in sufferers' photoreceptors severely impairs their sensitivity to light. "It's like wearing several pairs of sunglasses in a dark room," says Artur Cideciyan, a researcher at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, who oversaw the trial.

At the start of the study, physicians injected a gene encoding a functional copy of the protein into a small part of one eye--about eight-to-nine millimeters in diameter--of three patients, all in their twenties and blind since birth. In preliminary results published last year, Cideciyan and colleagues found that all three patients showed substantial improvements in their ability to detect light three months after treatment.

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Probing further, the researchers found that the patient appeared to be using the treated part of her eye like a second fovea--the part of the retina that is most densely populated with photoreceptors and is typically used for detailed vision, such as reading. The patient could detect dimmer light using the treated region than she could with her natural fovea. "We realized she was slowly adapting to her newfound vision by subconsciously focusing her attention to the treated area as opposed to the untreated central fovea," says Cideciyan. "It suggests that there is a plasticity, an ability to adapt in the adult visual brain."

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Full story at http://www.technologyreview.com/biomedicine/23239/

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Tres cool!