For example, a consortium of research groups called the London Project to Cure Blindness aims to test RPE
transplants from embryonic stem cells in patients with macular degeneration this year.
Not exact matches
Da Cruz and his team grew replacement RPE
cells from human
embryonic stem cells on a thin plastic scaffold, before
transplanting the tissue into the back of each volunteer's eye.
Freed expects
transplants of neurons derived
from embryonic stem cells to enter the clinical arena soon as well.
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).
Researchers already envision
transplanting ready - made
embryonic stem cells back into people, providing cures for a huge range of diseases,
from diabetes to paralysis to Alzheimer's.
Transplanted embryonic stem cells are ethically cleaner, but they have a genetic makeup different
from the patient's own, so they could be violently rejected by the immune system.
From an entire organ to a dose of embryonic stem cells, if the tissue's DNA came from anyone else, the transplant would be rejected without the aid of harsh immunosuppressive dr
From an entire organ to a dose of
embryonic stem cells, if the tissue's DNA came
from anyone else, the transplant would be rejected without the aid of harsh immunosuppressive dr
from anyone else, the
transplant would be rejected without the aid of harsh immunosuppressive drugs.
Previous research in rodent disease models has shown that
transplanted oligodendrocyte precursor
cells derived
from embryonic stem cells and
from human fetal brain tissue can successfully create myelin sheaths around nerve
cells, sometimes leading to dramatic improvements in symptoms.
This has always been a worry with tissues produced
from embryonic stem cells, as these have the capability to form tumours if any are left in their original state in the
transplanted tissue.
A team of UK
stem cell scientists, led by Dr. Robin Ali
from UCL Institute of Ophthalmology in London, has developed a new strategy for repairing the retina by
transplanting photoreceptor
cells generated in the laboratory
from embryonic stem cells.
Starting with
transplants of human oligodendrocytes in the late 1980s [40], and more recently with populations of human oligodendrocyte progenitor
cells isolated
from the developing or adult CNS, or
from human
embryonic stem cells, it has been possible to generate extensive myelination upon transplantation into spinal cord injury or into congenital mouse models of hypomyelination [41]--[48].