A novel stem cell transplant significantly healed the vision of three patients who had significant corneal injury. The Japanese clinical experiment marks a significant breakthrough in stem cell research and is the first of its kind in the globe. No significant issues have surfaced two years after the procedure. All of the corneas seem significantly clearer from the outside than they did previously.
The Study of Stem Cell Transplantation
Four participants in the study all had limbal stem cell deficiency, a disorder that causes corneal scar tissue. Consider the limbus as the frame that secures the glass to the white ball, and the cornea as the eye’s “transparent window.” There are also a lot of stem cells in this framework. These cells are ready to take the place of any damaged corneal units. Progressive loss of vision is inevitable if the limbal stem cells are not protected.
The Current Approach to Limbal Stem Cell Deficiency Management
Nowadays, patients can have their scar tissue surgically removed if they have Limbal Stem Cell Deficiency in one eye. A corneal slice from the other eye that is functioning normally can then be used in its place. However, a donor transplant is the only option if both eyes are affected by the loss of limbal stem cells. The issue is that just 1 in 70 of the 12.7 million people who lose their vision due to corneal disease globally have access to a transplant. Furthermore, rejection is a possibility for even those people who do receive a transplant. The potential use of induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) comes into play at this point.
Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells’ Function
Any human body’s cells can be used to create these incredibly powerful cells. These cells have the ability to proliferate endlessly if they are reprogrammed into an embryonic form. After that, they have the ability to differentiate into any type of adult human cell, including corneal cells. In 2023, two individuals with corneal injury had their vision restored by American researchers using limbic stem cells. Their vision remained clear a year later. When Japanese researchers from Osaka University Hospital employed induced pluripotent stem cells to restore vision, things advanced even further. Healthy blood cells were used to create these induced pluripotent stem cells. The Lancet reported their findings.
How the Exams Operate
In the lab, the iPSCs were transformed into corneal epithelial cell sheets. These sheets were placed over the patients’ corneas after scar tissue was removed. Then a protective lens was placed on top. Seven months following the transplantation, all of the patients showed improvements in their vision. But a year later, one patient’s vision began to deteriorate once more. Before the transplants, she suffered the most severe loss of vision. Two patients, a 44-year-old woman and a 66-year-old man, showed the greatest improvement in their vision.
Possible Reactions of the Immune System to the Transplant
The other two patients did not improve as much as they may have, according to the study’s researchers, because of a covert immunological reaction to the transplant. None of the patients received any immunosuppressive drugs other than steroids. Researchers utilised to treat patients with macula degeneration by using iPSCs from their own skin to restore their vision. But this is the first time researchers have achieved something comparable with this second kind of blindness. Additionally, it was completed without using components extracted from the patient’s own cells.
The Bottom Line Regarding Transplanting Stem Cells
These kinds of operations are still quite experimental and thus possibly dangerous, despite the fact that these results are very hopeful. To find out if they are safe and effective, much more research is needed. “This study represents a promising future treatment option for individuals with an LSCD, and to our knowledge, it provides the first description of iPSC-derived cell constructs being transplanted into or onto patients’ corneas,” the Japanese research team said. To build on these encouraging results, a multicenter clinical trial is already being planned.
