I Have Cement But What To Put A Wood Swing Set

innovative gene therapies to correct the lazy eye in adults

amblyopia

A gene to see clearly

An American study opens the way for innovative gene therapies to correct the lazy eye in adults

amblyopia

A gene

see clearly An American study paves the way for innovative gene therapies to correct the lazy eye in adults

LONDON - If the lazy eye is not treated in childhood, the risk is that you had to face for the rest of life. But a study just published in Science opens new perspectives. Some American researchers, led by Takao K Hensch, Harvard Medical School in Boston, are in fact able to give a correct view with some adult mice by acting on a particular gene called a Lynx.
lazy eye - L ' amblyopia, lazy eye the technical name, is a condition characterized by decreased vision in one eye due to a deviation, that is a strabismus more or less evident, or the presence of visual defects such as nearsightedness, farsightedness or astigmatism, different between the two eyes for both type entity. Having to choose a preferred vision, it activates a brain mechanism that leads to the choice of the eye that looks better, so the view is developed especially in that eye. The eye with the visual defect is instead left a bit more 'on the sidelines so he can not develop a full view. This condition is particularly common in children in whom an early diagnosis and early intervention, you can get excellent results. Generally the full visual maturation occurs within 7-8 years, but exceeded this threshold, it becomes more difficult to improve, even partially, an eye with amblyopia depth. The new U.S. data, however, open new perspectives.
GENE THERAPY - The experts from overseas have performed genetic tests on some of the mice in order to identify specific molecules expressed mainly in adults. These experiments have identified a gene that Lynx is expressed much more clearly past the age of critical eye development. The next step was to create mutant mice without this gene. Well, this device has allowed to extend the maturational plasticity of the visual system thus giving the mice the possibility of recovering the correct vision and amblyopia. "One of the limitations in the treatment dell'ambliopia it is linked to the time when action is taken: to recognize and take action later in the lazy eye care is to have worse results - notes Paolo Nucci, director of St. Joseph Hospital of Ophthalmology - Clinical Oculistica Universitaria di Milano -. Una riattivazione genica che prolunghi la plasticità maturativa del sistema visivo è sperabile e molto ragionevole, ma purtroppo oggi si sa ancora poco su eventuali effetti indesiderati che spesso sono riscontrati utilizzando le tecniche di ingegneria genetica». Insomma una cosa è intervenire sull’animale da esperimento, altra è farlo sull’uomo. I nuovi risultati fanno comunque ben sperare, anche se la strada da percorrere per avere delle ricadute cliniche sarà sicuramente lunga e tortuosa.

Antonella Sparvoli
08 dicembre 2010