A group of French researchers just restored the visions of seven out of eight blind dogs. These dogs were afflicted with the genetic condition named Leber's Congenital Amaurosis - a genetic disorder that leads to blindness shortly after birth. So far, there are at least 1,000 children in France afflicted. The dogs will be subject to a new kind of genetic therapy.

The researchers injected the dog's eyes with a "promoter." Its job is to encourage the genes within the eyes to code a protein named RPE65. This is important in retinoid processing and rhodopsine synthesis. After two weeks, the dogs reportedly recovered their vision. However, they needed to know the extent of the repair done to the dogs' eyes.

They designed a course where the dogs needed to go through; however, only one of the eyes will be open, the other will be closed. They placed a cover over the untreated eye and let the dogs walk through a course using their treated eye. Seven out of eight dogs come through in more or less seven seconds. The dog that failed was the oldest treated (30 months). They assumed that the therapy should start as early as possible to repair the damage to the eyes.

The "promoter" seems to have promise; however, the researchers need to do more experiments before they move up to humans. Looks like the cure for Leber's Congenital Amaurosis is near at hand and children will be able to see the light again.