A gene that causes shortsightedness has been pinpointed¹ by British scientists, paving the way for eye drops that could make glasses history. Within just ten years, a drug that prevents short-sightedness or stops it in its tracks could be in widespread use。

The latest research, by an international team led by experts at King's College London (KCL)，offers hope to millions。

To find the gene, the first to be linked to short-sightedness, or myopia, the researchers compared the DNA² of more than 4,000 British twins. Twins are often used in such studies because it is easier to distinguish the different effects of nature and nurture³. They then confirmed their results by studying the genetics of another 13,000 British, Dutch and Australian individuals。

KCL researcher Pirro Hysi, the study's lead author, said: "We have known for many years that the most mportant risk factor for being short-sighted is having parents who are shortsighted and for the first time we are identifying genes⁴ that may be involved in passing on this susceptibility."

Chris Hammond, also of KCL, said: "Myopia, or shortsightedness, is the most common eye problem, affecting over a third of adults in the UK. People who are extremely short-sighted carry significant risks of future vision loss. The retina can peel away from the back of the eye like wallpaper off a wall."

"While we believe that environmental risk factors such as a lot of close work and lack of outdoor activity are implicated⁵, we have not previously⁶ understood how people become short-sighted. "

"We hope that by understanding the mechanisms⁷ we can stop children from becoming shortsighted and stop short-sighted children from becoming more short-sighted."

A second study, by Dutch researchers, identified a second short- sightedness gene. Ultimately, there could be dozens behind the condition。

Drugs that counter their effect and stop the eyeball from overgrowing could be available in just a decade, said Hammond. Other options include gene therapy - injecting "healthy" genes into the eye。

Although the eye drops would not help adults who are already short-sighted, they could be of huge benefit to their children。

However, today's youngsters can take some simple steps to try to discourage shortsightedness. Terri Young of Duke University said: "People need to go outside and look at the horizon. Today's near work forces our eyes to be constantly in tension to focus on reading papers and watching monitors."

英国科学家日前找到了诱发近视的基因，从而为眼药水改写眼镜历史肃清了道路。十年之内，一种预防近视或让近视不会再加深的药物将会问世，并且被广为使用。

伦敦大学国王学院专家们所领导的一个国际小组的最新研究为百万人带来了希望。

为了找出这种与近视有关的首个基因，研究人员比较过4000多对英国双胞胎的基因。因为以双胞胎来做研究比较，更容易区分出天与后天的不同影响。然后，他们又研究了1万3000名英国人、荷兰人和澳洲人的基因，印验证了他们先前的研究结果。

伦敦大学国王学院的研究员、该研究的主要作者皮若-海斯说：“很多年来我们都知道近视的最重要风险因素是父母近视，如今我们首次发现这种缺损性遗传的基因基础。”

同样来自伦敦大学国王学院的克里斯-哈蒙德说道：“近视是最常见的眼病，超过三分之一的英国人都是近视。近视程度严重的人群将来有可能会失明。视网膜会像墙纸一样从眼球后部开始脱落。”

“我们一直认为环境因素，比如工作过度、缺少室外活动，是导致近视的原因，但此前我们一直不知道人们的眼睛是怎么近视的。”

“我们希望借助对相关机制的理解，预防孩子出现近视症状，或是避免孩子度数加深。”

另外一项由荷兰研究人员进行的研究确认了另外一个近视相关基因。最终，与近视相关的基因可能会有几十个。

哈蒙德说，抵消近视基因作用、防止眼球过度生长的药物10年内即可问世， 届时其他疗法也会出现，包括基因疗法——给眼睛注入“健康”基因。

尽管眼药水对已经近视的成年人没有帮助，但对他们的孩子还是大有益处的。

然而，如今的年轻人很容易就可避免近视或降低度数，杜克大学的特里-扬说：“人们得到外面走走，看看地平线。如今很多工作让眼睛持续紧张地盯着报纸和屏幕看。”