Colorblind Monkeys Recover Sight with Gene Therapy
Researchers hope to extend gene therapy success in restoring sight to colorblind monkeys A few colorblind squirrel monkeys in ophthalmology professor Jay Neitz's lab at the University of Washington, Seattle have received an early Christmas gift: gene therapy has restored their ability to see red and green. Neitz and his colleagues say that the achievement provides hope for treating vision disorders in human adults as well. Colorblindness arises from a lack of visual photopigments in the eye sensitive to long- or medium-wavelength sensitive light, perhaps better known as "red" or "green" cones in the eye. The X chromosome carries the genes coding for such photopigments, so that females can become carriers if one of their X chromosomes lacks the genes. Sons who receive the mutant X chromosome become colorblind and...