Two for one: viral vector therapy in one eye improves vision in both

In an international collaboration between the University of Cambridge (UK), the University of Pittsburgh (PA, USA) and Institut de la Vision (Paris, France), scientists have demonstrated that injecting a gene therapy vector into a single eye of someone with Leber hereditary optic neuropathy (LHON) can significantly improve vision in both eyes. Their findings were published recently in the journal Science Translational Medicine. LHON, the most common cause of mitochondrial blindness, is caused by a mutation in the MT-ND4 gene. The disease affects the retinal ganglion cells, causing the patient’s optic nerve and subsequently their vision to deteriorate. Patients typically develop...