Gene therapy success 'reverses' blindness

[DragonfallCIA]

We should find more research into visual prostheses. Unlike gene or stem cell therapy, a bionic eye can never turn cancerous.

[1NX9]

Transhumanism is the future.

[whitecoatstrategies]

Search for this great story about a young boy who was born virtually blind and can now see thanks to a gene therapy treatment: "New Hope for Gene Therapy... A Young Boy's Fight Against Blindness"

[Sylosis333]

Most rare illnesses come from simple malfunctions in the immune system or are rare infections/parasites that can mostly be treated with antibiotics or interferon. Cancer on the other hand can have a genetic predisposition which meens its programmed into your dna and you can't easily change that. The genetic predisposition doesn't meen you will get cancer but are more succeptable to it similar to diabetes. Then in other cases it can be from random mutations from free radicals.

[Velvetdusk09]

HMB265

I couldn't access my account via blackboard. I wonder how this will be on the quiz.

[aphroditepandora]

finally a class where I dont have to read endless textbook chapters! HMB265<3

[spiderml]

HMB265 ftw

[skyline4lyf3]

watching youtube videos for HMB265 tutorials = win

[jasonq21]

Thumbs up if you're in HMB265

[ScorpiaProduction]

the woman who narrates these videos is so sexy.

[DidntKnowWhatToPut1]

We are in the future

[Truthiness231]

^.^ We can't help but be in the modern age at all times, but yeah I know what you're getting at. We're just a few steps from being able to take a pill and regrow an organ. (ala Star Trek IV ^.^)

[LOLDISNEYLAND]

placebo effect? :D bahahaha

[mrchedders]

wuts up wid da accent!!!

[grgfraiser]

why is it they can cure "rare forms" that only 2000 people in america have and not smething that 1000's more have

[zbjordan23]

because the rare forms maybe less complex...alot of the bigger diseases are multifactorial, involving many different factors.

[grraadd]

1000s have diabetes and that is diet related - too much sugar harms whole body but symptoms are cataract,high blood pressure,skin problems,pancreas,kidney problems... Curing one part of the body at the time will have little effect - that's curing symptoms only. Sugar causes insulin damage as well as sugar damage to the body.

[=>simple sugars in fruits,sweets =>complex sugars in grain,potatoes,rice,pasta,brea­d,sweets(caramel!)]

[grgfraiser]

i'm not quite sure at what your getting at with the diabetes thing, but it is acually due to a combination of hereditary and environmental causes, if it where just diet then all you would have to do is diet right and it would go away but it doesn't.

[grraadd]

hereditary causes - near to statistical error; environmental causes - our body can filter out toxins better than average person believes. You have to live in real shit hole like Romania 10 years ago or China to be affected by environment. Alcohol and tar from cigarettes is much more powerful than some dust in the air. And I don't say what I think it should be, it's knowledge from school: most important for your health is life style and most of it - the diet. Genes are the perfect excuse :-P

[SaviorThree]

maybe because the common diseases are common because they are always changing. AIDS, influenza, the common cold- these diseases vary from strain to strain. Maybe the rare diseases don't vary as much because they don't mutate as much because they don't occur as much.

But I'm no scientist. It's just my thought.

[thestalkinghead]

why did they test them like a rat rather thn ask them wether they can see

[FrostGibbon]

nice subscribed

[crubs83]

amazing, but kinda like "I am Legend". but if a virus breaks our and injects me full of human DNA... i dont think i got much to worry bout.

[RationalLiberty]

incredible

[b0w5er]

did that hurt the patient?

[redrobotmaster]

they're supposed to be put asleep chemically lol., after all it is a surgery- they do'nt let you awake for that.

[schumm122]

UN BE LIEVABLE

[DefineYourTerms3]

Question: what are the side effects of "other" gene therapies you referenced? Or how to find out (besides Google). This part has not been emphasized in the media.

[DefineYourTerms3]

Forgot to say I read article to the right, have anything else?

[Lowbudget2]

That's still being figured out at the moment.

... depends how you define side-effects though. Supposing it could wear off after awhile then you would have to get treated again...

is an example I can think of.

[wiganer50]

The guy who's treatment was successful is one of my mates at college

[rufusBB]

You can't ' cure' cancer, you can prevent it, minimise an individual's susceptibility but it's not curable, not in this sense. There are far too many factors involved- you will need to eliminate all dietary, environmental and genetic factors which is impossible in this day and age. What eye disease was it that gene therapy was developed for, does anyone know, RPE65? Thanks.

[TheHaloholic]

Not a disease they were born that way thru genetic malformities

[rufusBB]

Oh sorry about that.

[BackToPass]

your not born with cancer, you develope it and if something goes wrong in your growing then bam, cancer... my uncle was tested for cancer when he was a kid and had no cancer genes and our family has no recorded history of cancer. he get cancer later on in life. he developed it.

[Jenfucius]

It depends on the type of cancer.

Some cancers can certainly develope in life like you say. There are also other forms of cancers that are genetic in origin.

Hopefully with new technology break throughs we will defeat cancer once and for all. Then we can all live healthier and longer.

Cheers!

[merrett]

Don't mean to sound blunt but, rare form of blindness that affects 2000 Americans?

Come on. Cancer cure now please.

[nixisan]

I don't think that's the main point.....it's more significant with respect to the progression in the field of gene therapy. I don't think at the moment the success rate of gene therapy is too high so they might be getting somewhere from here

[merrett]

k, guess I'm just impatient.

[547212436]

cancer is harder to cure and they are trying very hard. also there are lots of cures for manny diffirent forms of cancer but there are more forms of cancer than cures obviously... also cancer is a much harder thing to cure because it is usualy unique from patient to patient

[moebear]

You wouldn't say that if you were going blind.

[Adipatus]

You sound nitpicky. If they can cure a blinding condition with gene therapy, they might be better prepared to cure cancer with it too.

[climbingfool2]

If you want a cure for cancer so bad, go find it yourself. All the world's scientists can't be expected to focus their attention on YOUR priorities. Some scientists research medicine, some research particle physics (look up "LHC"), some research geology, some research atmospheric sciences... etc, etc, etc. Progress in one field does not diminish the progress in another, and a success in one field may yield unintended discoveries/applications later in another, e.g. telescopes leading to MRIs.

[PageDown88]

Wow, you really don't know much about scientific research do you?

[Gerbilsausage]

I hate how everyone is saying "It's a different maze ZOMG". If it was the same one, he would have remembred the locations of the doors, and it would be a false study. This is amazing.

[zamirb]

They used the same maze...there is no visual evidnce here. A blind person could remember the maze...

An interview with the patent would have been perfect.

[soccerfan113]

actually they aren't the same maze the location of the doors changed

[Goldy151515]

its not the same maze

[effinyeah]

I know the guy who worked on this study. It's quite amazing :)

[atican]

Why would they use the same maze to test the independent variable? Nubs.

[MiniMaxis468]

its a different maze

the doors are in different places

[bestiaccia]

Very good news!

[dafttool]

We are on the verge of so many medical breakthroughs right now, it's astounding.

[newmac]

So how long before Chucklenuts bush bans the research?

[driubi]

he would have banned it yesterday - but he also banned the time machine that would make that possible - so he'll probably get on it in 2 minutes. "i don't believe in gene therapy because of moral issues, we have other areas of research we can look into, like khaki and slacks therapy."

[Canbuhay]

Actually adult stem cell (not involving embryos) which use cells from a person's own body (and therefore cannot be rejected) are doing a lot of good: people have been able to walk again because of it.

Bush never banned stem cell research of any kind. All he did was ensure that American taxpayers don't pay for embryonic stem cell research. The research is still very much legal - it's just paid for by private donors. If you are American, how come as a Canadian I know that you don't?

[Canbuhay]

What an ignorant comment. Bush banned embryonic stem cell research because the research destroys what biology says are existing human beings in order to find cures for other human beings. This kind of research harms no one and actually helps people.

[Canbuhay]

Oops I meant stopped funding instead of banned - see note below.

[driubi]

oh no - its not banned, not even the federal funding. There is a prevention of the use of new embryonic stem cells lines. This includes using blastocysts that infertile couples toss out after successfully achieving pregnancy. In america a great deal of the helpful research has to be funded by the government, especially when its not seen to have immediately lucrative results. That being said, my statement was suppose to be more of funny and a caricature of bush than it is factual. It's a joke.

[Avalikia]

Gene therapies have nothing to do with stem cells anyway.

[hartnell114]

putting a blind guy through a maze is a little harsh,surely theyve shown us their best example,so whats the quickest a person who hadnt had treatment was able to get through? and theyd really need to test alot more than Three people for accurate results.

[Orangeh]

It's a preliminary trial, no point testing 1000 if it has no effect/has serious side effects

[quadstrike]

now i can finally get to ask ppl what they see when their blind i mean because we do dream but do they have to walk around ignoring their dreams?

[Blargsix]

wow

[Clockworkforest]

The future is finally getting here!

[bramcorleone]

I wonder if we haven't wiped ourselves entirely out when it's finally there!;)