Gene cure for blindness [proved successful at restoring the sight of dogs]

A BRITISH hospital has made the world's first attempt to treat blindness with a revolutionary gene therapy. Surgeons at the Moorfields Eye Hospital in London operated on Robert Johnson, who was born with a rare sight disorder known as Leber’s congenital amaurosis (LCA), which deteriorates with age.

Mr Johnson, 23, who had genes inserted into one eye, could see only outlines during the day and very little at night before having the procedure yesterday.

He is one of a dozen young patients selected for the first clinical trial to test the new therapy, which has already proved successful at restoring the sight of dogs in tests.

I’m disappointed, but only because of the byline. A friend was in the research race to be first to fix this and I’d hoped for an Iowa byline. The British research bureaucracy must have moved quicker. The disease won some media coverage last fall when Cubs 1B Derrick Lee’s daughter was diagnosed with it. According to my friend this is the most severe of the genetic diseases that cause blindness. There is a breed of dogs prone to the same disease which simplified the research. The dog results were stunning. The dogs were completely blind, “walking into walls” blindness my friend said. There have now been 50+ dogs treated, and they rapidly regained good eyesight without any ill effects. They can now catch thrown sock balls! The results have lasted 7+ years in them. It worked even on older dogs in whom both I and my friend would have anticipated suboptimal results because of poor development of their previously deprived optical cortex. I hope these folks will be able to report similarly good results soon.

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