Cell and gene therapy.

Replacement or repair of a dysfunctional gene combined with promoting cell survival is a two-pronged approach that addresses an unmet need in the therapy of retinal degenerative diseases. In this chapter, we discuss various strategies toward achieving both goals: transplantation of wild-type cells to replace degenerating cells and to rescue gene function, sequential gene and cell therapy, and in vivo reprogramming of rods to cones. These approaches highlight cutting-edge advances in cell and gene therapy, and cellular lineage conversion in order to devise new therapies for various retinal degenerative diseases.