Retinitis pigmentosa: A protein for good eyesight found

Researchers at the Friedrich Miescher Institute (Switzerland), Inserm and CNRS have identified a protein able to activate the photoreceptors, the neurons responsible for daytime vision, damaged by retinitis pigmentosa in mice.

Published in the journal Science, this work has been confirmed ex-vivo on cultured human retinas, which allow scientists to identify patients who might benefit from this "therapy".

The researchers were able to reactivate damaged photoreceptors by the disease by introducing a protein called "sensitive" able to combine light stimulation to a carrier ion. This has enabled the mice with retinitis pigmentosa to find a new sensitivity to light.

"We have integrated the clinical approach as soon as we got the first basic results of this work. So we are already able, in the center of rare diseases of the retina, target, using techniques of retinal imaging with high resolution, non-invasive, patients in whom this therapy could be applied " explains José Alain Sahel, Institute of Vision.

Over 1, 5 million people are affected by different forms of retinitis pigmentosa. Retinitis pigmentosa can cause a gradual decline in vision and be completed by blindness.

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