New pig model may lead to progress in treating debilitating eye disease

An animal model was developed by researchers at the University of Louisville and the National Swine Resource and Research Center at the University of Missouri. A newly developed, genetically modified pig may hold the keys to the development of improved treatments and possibly even a cure for retinitis pigmentosa (RP), the most common inherited retinal disease in the United States. Retinitis pigmentosa causes retinal degeneration, which leads to night blindness, loss of peripheral vision, and ultimately total vision loss. Researchers used an abnormal gene, RHO P23H, the most common cause of autosomal dominant RP. They inserted the mutant gene into the nucleus of pig embryos. The offspring expressed the mutant gene that causes RP and their eyes showed classic features of the eye disease. This model will now be used to screen the efficacy of various novel therapies for this disease, including stem cell transplantation, drug therapy, gene therapy and the retinal prosthesis.