Optogenetic Methods Restore Partial Vision in a Blind Patient

(© Image: Fotolia) Results of this research, a world-first, were published in  Nature Medicine on May 24th, 2021. An international research team has shown that optogenetic therapy has helped a patient with retinitis pigmentosa to partially regain visual function. This is a milestone step towards a type of gene therapy that could restore vision. Clinical trial results announced today show for the first time that optogenetic methods can partially restore vision in a blind human patient. The achievement marks a milestone towards developing mutation-independent therapies for inherited photoreceptor diseases. It was reported by an international research team led by José-Alain Sahel and Botond Roska including members from the Institut de la Vision and Hôpital National des Quinze-Vingts, Paris, the University of Pittsburgh, the Institute of Molecular and Clinical Ophthalmology Basel (IOB), StreetLab, and GenSight Biologics (Euronext: SIGHT). "Enabling a patient to regain partial vision by optogenetics could not have happened without the engagement of the patient, the efforts of our multidisciplinary team at the Institut de la Vision and GenSight, and the longstanding collaboration with Botond Roska, which was at the origin and core of all this project " says first and corresponding author José-Alain Sahel, Distinguished Professor and Chairman of Ophthalmology at the University of Pittsburgh, Professor at Sorbonne University and Hôpital National des Quinze-Vingts, and Founding Director of the Vision Institute.