Moorfields Eye Hospital trials new stem cell treatment for aniridia-related keratopathy

Patients with a rare genetic eye condition that leads to a deficiency in limbal stem cells have received a pioneering treatment.

Researchers from Moorfields Eye Hospital and the UCL Institute of Ophthalmology have outlined the results of the first-in-human trial of a stem cell treatment for aniridia-related keratopathy (ARK) in JAMA Ophthalmology.

The trial involved nine patients with ARK who received a transplant of a collagen scaffold that delivers limbal epithelial stem cells and stromal stem cells in one eye, while the other eye was left as a control.

The ocular surface scores of the treated eyes showed improvement at three months compared to the untreated eyes.

The researchers also observed improvements in visual acuity in the treated eyes as measured through Early Treatment Diabetic Retinopathy Study acuity charts.

These charts revealed an average improvement of 24 letters, or almost five lines in a standard vision chart, in the treated eye a year after the procedure was carried out.

Professor Sajjad Ahmad, a consultant ophthalmic surgeon at Moorfields Eye Hospital and professor of corneal regeneration at the UCL Institute of Ophthalmology, highlighted that the collagen scaffold showed promise to treating a previously untreatable progressive eye condition.

“We are now looking to take this forward to a larger clinical trial, with a view to this being accepted as an NHS treatment,” he said.

The research received funding from the Medical Research Council, Moorfields Eye Charity and the NIHR Biomedical Research Centre at Moorfields Eye Hospital.