Blindness was treated for the first time in humans with stem cell therapy
See Full Size
Three people with severe visual impairment who received stem cell transplants lost their vision for more than a year. ongoing significant improvements recorded. A fourth person with severe visual impairment also experienced improvement in his vision, but it was stated that these improvements were not long-lasting.
reprogrammed cells
These four patients were the first to experience treatment with reprogrammed stem cells to heal damage to the cornea, the transparent surface of the eye. Experts state that the treatment appears safe, but larger clinical studies need to be conducted.
The cornea can renew itself thanks to the stem cells in the limbal ring of the eye. However limbal stem cell deficiency In the condition known as (LSCD), these regenerative stem cells are reduced or completely depleted. This condition leads to the accumulation of scar tissue on the cornea and eventually blindness. Trauma, autoimmune diseases, and genetic factors can also cause LSCD.
On the other hand, LSCD treatments are quite limited and usually involve the transplantation of stem cells taken from the patient’s healthy eye. However, unfortunately, it is not possible to apply this method when both eyes are affected. Cornea transplants from organ donors may be rejected by the recipients’ immune system.
The treatment showed its effect immediately
See Full Size
Two-year observations after transplantation show that treatment Does not cause side effects showed. No patient developed tumors and the immune system did not attack the transplanted cells. Kapil Bharti, one of the experts who developed the treatment, stated that these results are reassuring, but more transplants are needed to ensure the safety of the treatment.
After the transplants, in the views of all four recipients instant recovery and decreased corneal area affected by LSCD. Improvements continued in all but one recipient, which showed slight reversals over the one-year observation period. Scientists state that they do not yet understand exactly what recovery from treatment depends on. It is thought that the transplanted cells may have adhered to the recipient’s cornea and proliferated, or the wound tissue cleansing before the transplant may have contributed to this healing.
Source
https://www.vice.com/en/article/first-ever-stem-cell-treatment-restores-vision-in-four-people/
https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(24)01764-1/fulltext
This news our mobile application Download using
You can read it whenever you want (even offline):
What do you think?