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Published online 28 April 2008 | Nature | doi:10.1038/news.2008.786
News: Briefing
Gene therapy treats blindness
This weekend two teams reported success in helping people to see again. Nature News catches up on the state of gene therapy trials against blindness.
What sort of blindness do the new reports address?
Two separate teams have published reports of successful gene therapy trials for a type of Leber’s congenital amaurosis (LCA), a rare inherited form of blindness. Patients with LCA have a genetic defect that affects the development of the light receptors in their eyes; typically they have poor vision at birth and are blind within three decades.
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