New promising therapy from Bern against acquired blindness

Researchers at the University of Bern have succeeded in restoring vision to blind mice. They have developed a molecular light switch as a potential therapy for acquired blindness. About one in 300 people suffer from complete or partial blindness associated with retinal degenerative diseases such as retinitis pigmentosa, an hereditary and so far incurable condition. […]

Researchers at the University of Bern have succeeded in restoring vision to blind mice. They have developed a molecular light switch as a potential therapy for acquired blindness.

About one in 300 people suffer from complete or partial blindness associated with retinal degenerative diseases such as retinitis pigmentosa, an hereditary and so far incurable condition. Although the light-sensing cells lose their function, cells in deeper layers of the retina, which normally receive and process the visual information, remain intact. Scientists at the Department of Physiology of the University of Bern have discovered how to make those surviving retina cells light-sensing, thus turning them into “replacement light sensors”.

The researchers treated mice suffering from retinitis pigmentosa with their newly developed therapy. As a result, the mice were able to see under daylight conditions, react to visual stimuli and learn visually triggered behaviors. The study was published in the journal “PLoS Biology”.

This new approach could help all patients suffering from blindness caused by photoreceptor degeneration – one of the most prevalent causes of blindness – but also people suffering from age-related macular degeneration, a condition that affects one in ten over-65 year olds to some extent.