Gene therapy, useful for blindness treating

Surgeons in Oxford discovered that gene therapy was helpful for treating six patients who needed their vision to be improved and who would have gone blind in the absence of this therapy. The operation consisted of a gene`s insertion into the eye. The doctors believe that this treatment could be helpful in treating common forms of blindness. The research was led by Prof. Robert MacLaren. The first patient who underwent the operation is Jonathan Wyatt, aged 63 and was able to see after improving his vision with the gene therapy. Doctors are planning to apply the therapy for younger patients, as it worked for the first 6 patients who underwent the therapy and got back their sight. Choroideremia is the condition targeted by the therapy which leads to blindness in 300,000 people in Britain and damages vision in 1 out of 4 people aged above 75. “As this process advances there is hope that it could be transferred across and provide a cure for these common causes of blindness”, said Clara Aglen of the Royal National Institute of Blind People.