A new genetic cause for retinitis pigmentosa has been found that might explain a significant number of these blindness cases in people of Jewish descent, according to a news release by the University of Iowa Hospitals & Clinics.
The findings, reported by University of Iowa researchers in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, propose prevention and treatment using a combination of genetic testing, gene therapy and cell replacement.
Researchers found a mutation in a gene called male germ cell associated kinase that had not previously been associated with eye disease in humans.
Read the University of Iowa release on a genetic cause for retinitis pigmentosa.
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