October 16, 2023
Keio University School of Medicine
A research group from the Department of Ophthalmology, Keio University School of Medicine, led by Associate Professor Toshihide Kurihara and Project Assistant Professor Yusaku Katada, has confirmed in mice for the first time in the world both a highly sensitive vision-restoring effect and a protective effect against retinal degeneration using optogenetics. This was achieved with "Chimeric Rhodopsin," a unique photosensory protein created by Professor Hideki Kandori and his team at the Nagoya Institute of Technology.
Vision-restoring gene therapy using optogenetics is gaining attention as a technology to overcome intractable blinding diseases, including retinitis pigmentosa, a leading cause of blindness in young people. Although clinical trials are already underway overseas, one of the challenges has been that conventional photosensory proteins require very intense light, similar to direct sunlight. This study has now confirmed two effects in animal experiments: not only increased sensitivity, enabling responses to light as dim as that on a street at night, but also a protective effect against retinal degeneration. These findings are expected to be applied to the practical use of vision-restoring therapies in the future.
The results of this research will be published in the journal iScience on October 20, 2023 (Greenwich Mean Time).
Please see below for the full press release.