Stem cell therapy shows promise for corneal injuries

Patients with injuries that were previously considered untreatable have shown improvements in vision following stem cell transplants

2 min read

Dr Ula Jurkunas looks at a screen in a lab with research assistants in the background

Mass Eye and Ear

Selina Powell

11 March 2025

A clinical trial involving 14 patients with corneal injuries has shown that stem cell transplants can offer a feasible and safe treatment option.

The research, which was published in Nature Communications, involved patients between the ages of 24 and 78 with unilateral limbal stem cell deficiency (LSCD).

The underlying cause of LSCD in study participants included chemical and thermal burns, as well as contact lens associated complications and herpes zoster ophthalmicus.

The study participants received a form of stem cell transplant developed at Massachusetts Eye and Ear called cultivated autologous limbal epithelial cells (CALEC).

The CALEC therapy involves taking stem cells from a healthy eye through a biopsy, using these cells to create a cellular tissue graft and surgically transplanting the graft on to the damaged cornea.

The patients who received the CALEC treatment were followed over an 18-month period, with the results showing that the treatment is more than 90% effective in restoring the surface of the cornea.

“Our early results suggest that CALEC might offer hope to patients who had been left with untreatable vision loss and pain associated with major cornea injuries,” lead study author, Dr Ula Jurkunas, of Massachusetts Eye and Ear and Harvard Medical School, highlighted.

“Cornea specialists have been hindered by a lack of treatment options with a high safety profile to help our patients with chemical burns and injuries that render them unable to get an artificial cornea transplant. We are hopeful with further study, CALEC can one day fill this crucially needed treatment gap,” Jurkunas emphasised.

Examples of vision improvement as a result of the CALEC treatment included a 31-year-old male whose visual acuity improved from 6/12 to 6/9.

The visual acuity of another 36-year-old male study participant improved from being able to detect hand motion to 6/9.

Future trials will involve larger numbers of patients at multiple centres, with a longer follow up period and randomised-control design.

“We feel this research warrants additional trials that can help lead towards FDA approval,” Jurkunas shared.