Abstract

Color blindness is an inherited or acquired condition that limits vision by the lack of certain types of cone cells located in the retina and therefore the encodement for certain proteins. The absences or defects of any of the three types of photoreceptor cells, which detect colors, result in various degrees of color blindness, depending on the type and the number of cone cells affected. Advancement in the field of genetic therapy for retinal disorders can be viewed as an opening to cure more severe eye diseases. I-RGB (Intraocular Retinal Gene Breakthrough) involves the incorporation of genes directly into the retina to activate the hidden potentials of existing cone cells that code for certain proteins necessary for normal perception of red, green and blue hues. L-opsin, proved to be effective in curing color blindness in monkeys, is a protein produced by the gene OPN1LW. Our cure consists of an injection of a virus carrying OPN1LW, OPN1MW, and OPN1SW that will alter the genetic information of multipotent retinal progenitor cells to prompt the production of additional opsins.