Your best friend can help you regain vision

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The man’s best friend could soon help him regain vision, for a new study has revealed that a genetic mutation in dachshunds might help uncover the roots of some inherited forms of blindness in humans.

A joint team of researchers from Europe and the US hascarried out the study and found an altered gene, called NPHP4, in the canines who are prone to cone-rod dystrophies, caused by progressive cell loss in retina. Cone-rod dystrophies first leads to “day-blindness” in which vision in bright light is affected, then to full loss of vision, and it can start as early as childhood. “This gene has been associated with a combination of kidney and eye disease in human patients. We found a mutation which affects only the eyes, suggesting this gene might be a candidate for human patients with eye disease only,” the BBC News portal quoted lead researcher Frode Lingaas as saying.

In their study, Lingaas of the Norwegian School of Veterinary Science and colleagues isolated a particular part of a canine chromosome and then NPHP4, a portion of which had been deleted in affected dachshunds.

According to him, the research on the similar gene in humans might lead to new therapies and in the dog world, this could be a useful discovery, opening the way to genetic tests to help breed out some disorders. Experts have welcomed this research. David Hunt at the Institute of Ophthalmology has said the finding could help scientists understand cone-rod dystrophies in people.

However, he said, “It is a wide spectrum of conditions, not just one. The problem is that there is a wide range of underlying defects and we haven’t got a magic bullet which can target these all at once.”