Retinitis Pigmentosa News and Research

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Retinitis pigmentosa (RP) is the name given to a group of inherited eye diseases that affect the retina (the light-sensitive part of the eye). RP causes the breakdown of photoreceptor cells (cells in the retina that detect light). Photoreceptor cells capture and process light helping us to see. As these cells breakdown and die, patients experience progressive vision loss. The most common feature of all forms of RP is a gradual breakdown of rods (retinal cells that detect dim light) and cones (retinal cells that detect light and color). Most forms of RP first cause the breakdown of rod cells. These forms of RP, sometimes called rod-cone dystrophy, usually begin with night blindness. Night blindness is somewhat like the experience normally sighted individuals encounter when entering a dark movie theatre on a bright, sunny day. However, patients with RP cannot adjust well to dark and dimly lit environments.

NEI highlights new technologies and tools to help people living with low vision or blindness

During Low Vision Awareness Month, the National Eye Institute (NEI), part of the National Institutes of Health, is highlighting new technologies and tools in the works to help the 4.1 million Americans living with low vision or blindness.

6 Feb 2017

Scientists develop unique method to fix genes in living organisms

A unique gene-editing method that efficiently inserts DNA into genes located in dividing and non-dividing cells of living rats has been developed by a team of international researchers, including scientists from KAUST.

31 Jan 2017

New glasses may help expand sight of person with limited peripheral vision

Vision scientists may have discovered how to reduce pedestrian collisions in crowded and chaotic open space environments like bus terminals, shopping malls and city plazas involving individuals with partial blindness.

16 Dec 2016

Retinitis pigmentosa can be slowed by reprogramming metabolism of photoreceptors, study shows

Columbia University Medical Center researchers have demonstrated that vision loss associated with a form of retinitis pigmentosa (RP) can be slowed dramatically by reprogramming the metabolism of photoreceptors, or light sensors, in the retina.

15 Nov 2016

Researchers start enrolling patients for Phase II gene therapy trial for choroideremia

Following on from a successful world’s first Phase I gene therapy trial for choroideremia, Professor Robert MacLaren and his team at Oxford University and the Oxford Eye Hospital at the John Radcliffe Hospital have started a Phase II trial enrolling 30 patients.

11 Nov 2016

Second Sight successfully implants wireless multichannel neurostimulation system in human subject

Second Sight Medical Products, Inc. (Second Sight or the Company), a developer, manufacturer and marketer of implantable visual prosthetics to restore functional vision to blind patients, today announced the first successful implantation and activation of a wireless visual cortical stimulator in a human subject, providing the initial human proof of concept for the ongoing development of the Company's Orion™ I Visual Cortical Prosthesis (Orion I).

1 Nov 2016

Encapsulated cell therapy could be new way to fight glaucoma

An experimental drug, consisting of cells manufactured and implanted in the eye to stimulate optic nerve growth and activity, could be an entirely new way of fighting glaucoma, according to BrightFocus Foundation.

14 Oct 2016

Research findings offer promising treatment target for blinding diseases

New research published in Cell Reports identifies a potential treatment target for blinding diseases such as retinitis pigmentosa and advanced dry age-related macular degeneration.

28 Sep 2016

IU receives $1.9 million grant to investigate effects of congenital birth defects and age on the eye

A $1.9 million grant to Indiana University from the National Institutes of Health's National Eye Institute will advance basic research on the eye with applications to blindness caused by genetic disorders and aging.

20 Sep 2016

NanoScope awarded AGI Grant to re-sensitize photo-degenerated retinal areas with MCO

Millions of individuals affected by Retinitis Pigmentosa (RP) are visually impaired due to photo-degeneration of retina. The visual loss starts with the peripheral region progressing towards the center leading to tunnel vision. Currently, there is no cure to restore vision in these patients. The disease leads not only to physical impairment, but has a significant emotional and psychological impact on quality of life of patients as well as their family members.

27 Aug 2016

Research opens way towards making promising advances in retinal prostheses

A major therapeutic challenge, the retinal prostheses that have been under development during the past ten years can enable some blind subjects to perceive light signals, but the image thus restored is still far from being clear.

25 Aug 2016

Interim results from clinical trial demonstrate safety of cell-based therapy for retinitis pigmentosa

Regenerative medicine company jCyte and the Sue & Bill Gross Stem Cell Research Center at the University of California, Irvine report that their investigational therapy for retinitis pigmentosa (RP) has demonstrated a favorable safety and tolerability profile in an ongoing Phase I/II clinical trial.

14 Jul 2016

Shire’s Xiidra receives FDA approval for treating dry eye disease in adult patients

Shire plc announces that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has approved Xiidra (lifitegrast ophthalmic solution) 5%, a twice-daily eye drop solution indicated for the treatment of the signs and symptoms of dry eye disease in adult patients.

12 Jul 2016

Pain reliever appears to help preserve vision in animal model of retinal degeneration

A pain medicine that potently activates a receptor vital to a healthy retina appears to help preserve vision in a model of severe retinal degeneration, scientists report.

28 Jun 2016

New study suggests how rod photoreceptors may have originated to give rise to nocturnal mammals

Retinas from our earliest vertebrate ancestors had cone-like photoreceptors, presumably allowing them to see in daylight, but little ability to see at night. Then, millions of years ago in the Mesozoic era, and in relatively short order, mammals emerged that had retinas with predominantly rod photoreceptors, allowing for them to see at night perhaps to hunt for food while their dinosaur predators were dozing.

22 Jun 2016

LALES study analyzes risk, prevalence of early and late stage AMD among Latinos

The University of Southern California Roski Eye Institute researchers and clinicians published results of the largest population-based study of adult Latinos and age-related macular degeneration (AMD) in the National Eye Institute-funded "Los Angeles Latino Eye Study." The study, published in JAMA Ophthalmology, is the first to analyze the risk and prevalence of early and late stage AMD and its impact on quality of life for older Latinos.

4 May 2016

Pioneering gene therapy may lead to potential cure for common causes of vision loss

Pioneering gene therapy has restored some vision to patients with a rare form of genetic blindness for as long as four years, raising hopes it could be used to cure common causes of vision loss, new University of Oxford research published today shows.

29 Apr 2016

University’s blindness therapy comes a step closer following landmark licensing deal with US firm

Hundreds of thousands of people worldwide, who have a disease that can lead to blindness, could have their sight restored after The University of Manchester entered into a technology license with Seattle-based company Acucela Inc.

13 Apr 2016

University's blindness therapy comes a step closer following landmark licensing deal with US firm