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U.S. Navy-Financed Research Finds
Potential Cure for Terminal Blindness
By Rob Anastasio, Office
of Naval Research
Corporate Strategic Communications
Posted on
8/4/2010
|
ARLINGTON, Va. . (NNS)
-- Neurobiologists funded by the Office of Naval
Research (ONR) recently discovered a potential cure for
degenerative vision diseases leading to terminal
blindness.
The solution may be rooted in an unconventional
therapeutic approach.
Scientists at the Friedrich Miescher Institute for
Biomedical Research in Basel, Switzerland, are
manipulating the proteins that cause blindness in mice.
The scientists have successfully restored vision in the
light-sensing cells of the retina.
Dr. Thomas McKenna, program officer for ONR's Neural
Computation Program, said this research has significant
future implications.
"In the course of their study, these researchers
discovered an approach to restore vision in blind mice
with congenital macular degeneration," McKenna said.
"This technology shows great promise for the partial
restoration of vision for blind patients."
This initiative, supported by ONR Global's Naval
International Cooperative Opportunities in Science and
Technology Program (NICOP), studies retinitis pigmentosa,
the incurable genetic eye disease, which causes more
than 2 million worldwide cases of tunnel vision and
night blindness. If left untreated, the disease can lead
to complete blindness as the color-sensing cells in the
retina slowly degenerate.
Dr. Clay Stewart, technical director, ONR Global,
explained the importance of the NICOP program for
providing a platform for innovative international basic
research that could ultimately have a profound impact on
naval activities.
"The NICOP grants are of a seedling nature and are aimed
at maturing foreign science and technology projects to
the point that they can be picked up by ONR or other
[Naval Research Enterprise] organizations," Stewart
said. "In the case at hand, this world-class cognitive
research team has developed science that has the
potential of being useful in restoration of visual
acuity in subjects with impaired vision, such as Sailors
or Marines who have sustained head injuries in combat."
McKenna, a recipient of the 2009 Delores M. Etter Top
Scientists and Engineers of the Year award, said
additional studies are needed before making the
treatment available to visually impaired populations.
Next, the team plans to explore the duration of
therapeutic effects and whether the gene therapy could
have applications for other eye diseases.
ONR's research is part of a global effort to combat
visual diseases. The American Foundation for the Blind,
a national nonprofit organization, reports that more
than 25 million U.S. adults have some form vision loss.
According to the Foundation Fighting Blindness, about
100,000 Americans suffer from retinitis pigmentosa.
ONR provides the science and technology necessary to
maintain the Navy and Marine Corps' technological
advantage. Through its affiliates, ONR is a leader in
science and technology with engagement in 50 states, 70
countries, 1,035 institutions of higher learning and 914
industry partners. ONR employs approximately 1,400
people, comprising uniformed, civilian and contract
personnel with additional employees at the Naval
Research Laboratory in Washington, D.C.
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