Scientists use optogenetics to help a blind patient see again

This “first” is one in a family of firsts. There have been other in vivo genetic treatments for RP (and perhaps other eye related genetic conditions)<p>This one involves inserting a nonhuman gene into existing cells to turn them into a kind of hacked photoreceptor.<p>Another method involves crispr editing in place fixing the mutation to its non diseased human equivalent (apparently not possible in the article related type of RP which causes cell death, can’t fix what isn’t there)<p>A third kind involves generating a stem cell line of the patient, using crispr to fix the faulty gene, growing, and then implanting fixed retinal cells into the patient.<p>I believe all three have now had “firsts” in human trials.<p>The article in question seems interesting, but the less exciting of the three.

<i>Says one author of publication</i>: “It’s a major milestone,” said study leader and ophthalmologist José-Alain Sahel of the University of Pittsburgh and the Sorbonne University in France.<p><i>Says unaffiliated doctor</i>: “It’s a small step forward but it is a definite step forward in that they’ve been able to prove that this does work in humans,” said Paul Bernstein, an ophthalmologist and retinal specialist at the University of Utah School of Medicine, who was not involved in the study.<p>It&#x27;s neat to see optogenetics (and genetic manipulations in general) being applied to humans. The journey from research to real-world application is effing long.

&gt; When the black goggles he was wearing projected video images of his surroundings as a pulsed light beam onto those now-light-sensitive cells, the neurons fired, and the signal traveled up the optic nerve and into the visual processing center of the brain. The genetically modified neurons had become stand-ins for the photoreceptors he had lost many years before to a genetic disease called retinitis pigmentosa.<p>Sounds like the visor Geordi La Forge is wearing. Star Trek predicted cellphones, tablets and now this. Hopefully teleportation is next.

Anyone familiar with this know what the immune response&#x2F;impact was due to this treatment?