REPORTAGE
3637: this is the phone number of the weekend! The 33rd edition of the Telethon started on Friday. Until Sunday, many initiatives are organized throughout France with as every year: 30 hours live on France Televisions. Several thousand French people are mobilized with concerts, sports activities to raise funds. Thanks to donations from the Telethon, medical revolutions are now emerging. Gene therapy is applied concretely. An example with the first clinical trial of cell therapy to treat retinal degeneration. Europe 1 met Ouiza, selected for the test.
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At 55, Ouiza never thought to find a little of his vision. Touched by an orphan disease of the retina, she is almost blind since childhood. So when she is selected for this first clinical trial, Ouiza is hopeful. A patch of stem cells 3 millimeters by 5 is grafted into his eye in September. "It's the event of a lifetime," says Ouiza. "At the consultation of the 2nd month, the doctor looks at my eye, I tell him I see your light There is something that works, it works It is extremely promising What I see are real lights, as the reflection of the lampposts on the coat of my guide dog.
A breakthrough for other less rare diseases
This medical advance is encouraging for other, less rare diseases. "We hope to see this patch transformed into a real treatment for these genetic diseases, but also perhaps for much more frequent diseases such as age-related macular degeneration (AMD), since it is the same cells that work poorly or which are lost, "says Christelle Monville, researcher at the I-Stem laboratory who developed this therapy.
A huge hope for over a million and a half people affected by age-related macular degeneration in France.