A clinical trial investigating a treatment for blindness is under way this winter to evaluate the safety and efficacy of replacing
diseased eye cells with stem cells.
Not exact matches
Red bell peppers help fight off free radical
cells and help prevent inflammation in the body as well as
eye disease.
All have had injections of specialised retinal
cells in their
eyes to replace ones lost through age or
disease.
The survey, described today in a Policy Forum published by Science, randomly presented people with different vignettes that described genome editing being used in germline or somatic
cells to either treat
disease or enhance a human with, say, a gene linked to higher IQ or
eye color.
Eighteen adults with severe
eye disease who were among the first people to receive transplants created from human embryonic stem
cells (hESCs) continue to have no apparent complications with the introduced
cells after an average of nearly 2 years, according to the latest status report on their health.
In people with severe
eye disease, transplants made from embryonic stem
cells (in region of black dotted circle) appear safe, and became larger and more pigmented over time (right).
Nevertheless, the outcome may pave the way for transplants of stem
cell — derived
eye cells called photoreceptors, which could dramatically improve vision in people with
eye disease if all goes according to plan.
Studies of the lens of the
eye not only could reveal ways to prevent cataracts but also might illuminate the biology of Alzheimer's, Parkinson's and other
diseases in which
cells commit suicide
Eye diseases — such as age - related macular degeneration, as well as a genetic condition called Stargardt's macular dystrophy that afflicts young people — are considered excellent candidates for stem
cell therapy because the
eye is an immune - privileged site, meaning transplanted
cells are not as likely to be rejected as foreign compared with transplants elsewhere.
The downside is that people with these
eye diseases are losing sight in large part because they're losing a different type of
eye cell: the photoreceptors that sense light in the retina.
BABY BLUE Using human
eye cells, researchers fashioned an artificial
eye surface that could be used to study and test treatments for
eye diseases.
LCA is a rare inherited
eye disease that destroys vision by killing photoreceptors — light - sensitive
cells in the retina at the back of the
eye.
«It's fantastic news that they are going into the clinic with a
cell therapy for
eye disease,» says Pete Coffey of University College London, and head of a team developing tiny «patches» of RPEs for treating age - related macular degeneration.
Mutations in at least 60 genes are known to cause the
disease, and many people are not diagnosed until after a a substantial proportion of photoreceptor
cells, the
eye's rods and cones, have already degenerated and died.
The capsule creates the biotechnical condition for it, because it separates the donator's
cells from the body of the receiver and transfers the hormones which are important for the metabolism exclusively «In the
eyes of Dresden scientists this kind of transplantation will be suitable for patients with adrenal insufficiency but also with congenital
diseases such as the lack of 21 - hydroxylase.
Saatchi, which is owned by France's Publicis Groupe, SA, chose LifeStraw over a field of competitors that included a reusable controller to improve the distribution of IV fluids, a collapsible wheel that can be folded down for easier storage when not in use on bicycles or wheelchairs, an energy - efficient laptop designed for children in developing countries, a 3 - D display that uses special optics and software to project a hologramlike image of patient anatomy for cancer treatment, an inkjet printing system for fabricating tissue scaffolds on which
cells can be grown, a visual prosthesis for bypassing a
diseased or damaged
eye and sending signals directly to the brain, books with embedded sound tracks to help educate illiterate adults on health issues, a phone that provides telecommunications coverage to poor rural populations in developing countries, and a brain - computer interface designed to help paralyzed people communicate via neural signals.
«This provides strong evidence that Müller glia are important therapeutic targets for treating degenerative
eye diseases,» said Sehwon Koh, Ph.D., who is the lead author of this paper and a postdoctoral fellow in the laboratory of Cagla Eroglu, Ph.D., an associate professor of
cell biology and neurobiology at the Duke University Medical Center.
«Overlooked
cell key player in preventing age - related vision loss: Tree - shaped retinal
cells called Müller glia may provide a new therapeutic target for treating degenerative
eye diseases.»
These neurons and the synapses between them are supported by long, tree - shaped
cells called Müller glia (in green), which may provide a new therapeutic target for treating degenerative
eye diseases.
Lanza says
eye disease is a good place to start with such
cell therapies because the
eye doesn't reject foreign tissues, so no imunnosuppressive drugs are necessary.
A clinical trial in the Republic of Korea for patients with degenerative
eye diseases is the first to test the safety of an embryonic stem
cell therapy for people of Asian descent.
That's because stem
cells must be connected to existing neural networks — something that's not yet possible — whereas gene therapy simply involves making what is left in a
diseased eye photosensitive.
Lanza previously led a clinical trial in the United States — published November 2014 in the Lancet — that demonstrated embryonic stem
cells could be used safely for patients with degenerative
eye diseases, but the patient sample was Caucasian with the exception of one African - American.
Genetic
diseases like retinitis pigmentosa destroy the photosensitive
cells of the
eye, the photoreceptors, but often leave intact the other
cells in the retina: the bipolar
cells that the photoreceptors normally talk to, and the ganglion
cells that are the retina's output to the brain.
Scientists in Italy have discovered a simple
eye drop that may reverse glaucoma, the
disease caused when pressure builds in the
eye, injuring nerve
cells and ultimately leading to blindness.
Nathans is a neuroscientist who studies how
cells in the retina — the light - absorbing structure at the back of the
eye, which is considered part of the brain — assume their correct identities, and how those
cells respond to injury and
disease.
The researchers detected RPE
cells in the
eye of the patient with Stargardt
disease but not in the patient with age - related macular degeneration.
Work ranges from analysis of the functions of genes identified to cause
eye diseases when mutated, to the direct effects of UV - light and other agents associated with the development of
eye disease on mitochondrial and other
cell functions.
CCTD is also planning stem
cell - based research for diabetic
eye disease, for which a variety of stem
cell - based therapies have been evaluated in clinical trials.
Research in the lab of Edward P. Feener, Ph.D., Investigator in the Section on Vascular
Cell Biology and Director of the Proteomics Core at Joslin Diabetes Center and an Associate Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School, now has shown that a substantial percentage of patients with DME do not have high levels of VEGF in the fluid inside their
eyes but do have high levels of a protein called PKal (plasma kallikrein) and associated molecules that are key players in an inflammatory molecular pathway involved in the
disease.
Scientists currently know very little about why these particular
cells within the
eye do not survive with age and cause problems that lead to a
disease called Pigment Dispersion Syndrome (PDS).
In 2014, a Japanese woman in her 70s with age - related macular degeneration — a common
eye condition that can lead to blindness — had a tiny sheet of retinal pigment tissue made from her own skin
cells implanted into one
eye, which reportedly stopped the
disease's progression.
Advanced
Cell Technology (ACT), based in Marlborough, Mass., will begin testing its retinal cell treatment this year in a dozen patients with Stargardt's macular dystrophy, an inherited degenerative eye disease that leads to blindness in child
Cell Technology (ACT), based in Marlborough, Mass., will begin testing its retinal
cell treatment this year in a dozen patients with Stargardt's macular dystrophy, an inherited degenerative eye disease that leads to blindness in child
cell treatment this year in a dozen patients with Stargardt's macular dystrophy, an inherited degenerative
eye disease that leads to blindness in children.
Back when stem
cells were first extracted from human embryos 20 years ago, scientists were fascinated at their ability to change into any type of
cell in the body and thought they would soon be used to treat all types of
diseases, from
eye disorders to diabetes.
Human embryonic stem cellsImage: Wikimedia commons, Nissim Benvenistylinkurl: Advanced
Cell Technology; http://www.advancedcell.com/ (ACT) filed an Investigational New Drug (IND) application yesterday (November 18) to conduct a phase I / II trial using hESCs to treat a genetic
eye disease.
Towards our goals we study retinal
cells throughout their life, from embryonic stem
cells to retinal progenitors to differentiating and mature neurons and glia — with one
eye on neuronal regeneration (meaning de-novo neurogenesis) in the mammalian retina — and with another
eye on retinal
disease pathomechanisms.
This research points to exciting new possibilities for preventing or reversing the disabling vision loss caused by age - related macular degeneration, diabetic retinopathy, retinitis pigmentosa, glaucoma, and other
diseases that damage the retina, the layer of light - sensitive nerve
cells that line the back of the
eye.
Hot on the heels of last weeks report of the successful use of gene therapy to treat the
eye disease Leber's congenital amaurosis comes a report that scientists lead by Nathalie Cartier and Patrick Aubourg of the French National Institute for Health and Medical Research have combined gene therapy and stem
cell medicine to successfully... Continue reading Gene therapy on the brain
Several
eye diseases are considered excellent candidates for stem
cell therapy.
Also, the researchers are confident that the stem
cell infusion holds promise for primary open - angle glaucoma (where the pressure in the
eye rises slowly), which is the most common form of the
disease.
«In a report published in the journal Lancet, scientists led by Dr. Robert Lanza, chief scientific officer at Advanced
Cell Technology, provide the first evidence that stem
cells from human embryos can be a safe and effective source of therapies for two types of
eye diseases»
Stargardt's generally refers to a group of inherited
diseases causing light - sensitive
cells in the inner back of the
eye (retina) to deteriorate, particularly in the area of the macula where fine focusing occurs.
In particular, we are asking how molecules that are important in
eye development both prevent and protect against damage in
disease states such as AMD and encourage regeneration of
cells and their nerve fibers after injury.
And finally, a huge goal is to discover protein signals that we could reactivate in a
diseased or injured
eye, signals that act early to make naive
cells multiply in sufficient numbers to make an entire
eye.
In the past, neural stem and progenitor
cells from various sources were introduced into
eyes with the thought that they might differentiate and replace photoreceptors lost in retinal
disease [13]--[19].
Martin Raff, MD: Glaucoma, in the end, is a
disease of the retinal ganglion
cells - the
cells in the
eye that send their nerve process to the brain, carrying information about vision.
So for example, we are looking at ways to image the retina in the living
eye and identify
cells that become reactive very early on in the
disease.
On the surface, the
disease appears relatively simple, with high pressure (intra-ocular pressure, or IOP) within the
eye associated with the death of
cells in the retina and optic nerve dysfunction.
Findings raise the possibility of treating blinding
eye diseases using a patient's own corrected
cells as replacement tissue
Some
eye diseases, including glaucoma, damage the retinal ganglion
cells (RGCs) that make up the optic nerve.