Harvard Medical School scientists have buoyed hopes that it’s possible to reverse age-related vision loss — at least in animals.

Their hopes were boosted after they successfully restored vision in mice by turning back the clock on aged eye cells in the retina to recapture youthful gene function.

The Harvard scientists’ work was published in a December 2 issue of Nature science journal. Their study is the first demonstration that reversing age-related vision loss is doable by safely reprogramming complex tissues, such as the eye's nerve cells to an earlier age.

It’s possible to safely reverse the age of complex tissues, the study found

The team utilized three genes that are present during embryo development to give the eyes of the mice a sort of boost, and it proved effective.

Through reprogramming the expression of the three genes, the Harvard scientists were successful in triggering mature nerve cells in mice eyes to adopt a youthful state.

This method, according to the study, reversed glaucoma in the mice and reversed age-related vision loss in elderly mice. Glaucoma is a leading cause of blindness around the world.

“Our study demonstrates that it’s possible to safely reverse the age of complex tissues such as the retina and restore its youthful biological function,” David Sinclair, senior author of the study, said in a statement.

The study shores up hopes of therapies that could repair damage in other organs

Sinclair and his team, however, warned that the findings need replication in further studies, including in different animal models, before any human experiments are conducted.

Despite this, the results open the gateway to designing treatments for a range of age-related human diseases.

If proven to be successful in further studies, the world could expect new therapies employing a similar approach in repairing damage in other organs and possibly treat age-related diseases in humans, according to the Harvard team.

"If affirmed through further studies, these findings could be transformative for the care of age-related vision diseases like glaucoma and to the fields of biology and medical therapeutics for the disease at large," Sinclair said.

While it looks encouraging, it’s not ready for human testing yet, the study added.

“At the beginning of this project, many of our colleagues said our approach would fail or would be too dangerous to ever be used,” author Yuancheng Lu stated. “Our results suggest this method is safe and could potentially revolutionize the treatment of the eye and many other organs affected by aging.”

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