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Genetic Linkage

Another Bump in the Road for Gene Therapy?

Mercury can see, thanks to gene therapy. (Foundation for Retinal Research)
I am astonished, once again, by the complexity and unpredictability of science.

Last week, a paper in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) reported that gene therapy to treat a form of blindness called Leber congenital amaurosis type 2 (LCA2) doesn’t stop degeneration of the rods and cones – the photoreceptor cells that provide vision. Gene therapy sends the genetic instructions for a protein called RPE65 into a layer of cells that supports the rods and cones – the retinal pigment epithelium, or RPE. The protein is essential for the eye to use vitamin A. And the gene therapy works, so far.  Read More 
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