18 November 2024
New research published in The Lancet has described lasting visual improvements among patients with damaged corneas who received stem cell transplants.
The authors highlighted that the use of corneal epithelial cell sheets derived from human induced pluripotent stem cells to treat limbal stem-cell deficiency (LSCD) was, to the best of their knowledge, a world first.
The trial involved four patients with LSCD who received treatment at Osaka University Hospital. The patients included a 66-year-old man with ocular mucous membrane pemphigoid, a 39-year-old woman with toxic epidermal necrosis, and a 44-year-old woman and 72-year-old man with idiopathic LSCD.
The researchers reported that there were no serious adverse events during the two-year monitoring period.
A year after treatment, they found that in all patients disease stage and distance visual acuity had improved and corneal opacity had diminished.
The scientists highlighted that the findings suggest human induced pluripotent stem cells could be a promising future treatment option for individuals with LSCD.
Further research will focus on initiating a multi-centre clinical trial to explore the larger scale effectiveness of treating LSCD using corneal epithelial cell sheets derived from human induced pluripotent stem cells.
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