Release date: 2016-05-17
Japanese researchers reported that they successfully transplanted an induced pluripotent stem cell (iPSC) from a female patient's skin cells into her own eyes for the first time, eventually recovering her partially. Lost vision. They reported their findings at the 2016 Annual Meeting of the Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology (ARVO) in Seattle, USA.
The patient is a 70-year-old woman who is diagnosed with age-related macular degeneration (AMD), the leading cause of impaired vision in the elderly. As part of a preliminary study, she received this experimental treatment from 2014. Today, nearly two years after the transplant, these researchers shared their findings.
The researchers took a small piece of skin (4 mm in diameter) from the old lady's arm and genetically modified the skin cells to convert them into iPSCs.
As a pluripotent stem cell, iPSC is capable of producing almost any type of tissue in the body, which is why skin cells obtained from the arm can instead produce retinal tissue.
Once iPSC is induced to produce retinal pigment epithelium (RPE), after culturing in the laboratory, they form an ultra-thin flaky tissue, which is then transplanted into the patient's retina. .
In 2014, Masayo Takahashi, project director and scientist at the Center for Developmental Biology at the Japan Institute of Physical Chemistry, said, “I am very happy that this transplant has no side effects. However, this is only the first step in using iPSC for regenerative medicine. I ignited my determination to continue exploring until this treatment can be used to treat many patients."
Although this is still the initial stage of this experimental treatment, so far, these results are promising.
Researchers have been delaying the disclosure of their findings until they now detect the patient's condition and detect how these modified cells survive successfully, but they only report that the transplanted cells survive for more than a year. Time, and no adverse reactions, which led to a slight improvement in the patient's vision.
In a statement this week, the researchers said, "In a year and a half, this transplanted RPE sheet is able to survive well, and there is no indication of immune rejection, no unexpected adverse proliferation. , thus achieving the purpose of this preliminary study."
Last year, the patient told the Japan Times, "I am very happy, I am able to accept this treatment. I feel my vision becomes brighter and wider."
Although this did not fully restore the patient's vision, the study represents an important step forward in iPSC applications - scientists believe that iPSC may be used to treat many diseases such as Parkinson's disease and Alzheimer's. I am sick, not just a vision problem.
Many other studies have also given good results in using stem cell therapy to restore vision. Earlier this year, Chinese and American scientists were able to improve the vision of cataract infants by manipulating protein levels in stem cells.
What is more worth mentioning is that a woman who has been blind for more than five years in Baltimore, USA, has restored some of her vision after injecting stem cells extracted from her bone marrow into her eyes. Despite the many problems with this particular treatment, it is undeniable that stem cell research is a very exciting area of ​​research.
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"Japanese scientists have used skin cells to restore a patient's vision for the first time"
Source: Bio Valley
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