Researchers have found a way to use stem cells to help blind people regain some of their vision.
A small study was held for this treatment, in which the research team had stem cells develop into retinal pigment epithelium cells and transplanted them into the eyes of 18 patients, according to Discovery News.
All of the patients suffered from diseases related to eyesight, with half of them experiencing macular degeneration, the leading cause of blindness in adults in the developed world, and the other half having Stargardt's macular dystrophy, the leading cause of blindness in young adults in the developed world. The eye's retina is affected by both diseases, which leads to progressive loss in vision, and there is currently no way to treat either disease.
The cells were transplanted in doses of 50,000, 100,000 or 150,000 underneath the retina in the eye that had the worse vision, Discovery News reported. The research team then used drugs to suppress immune responses to the new cells.
The researchers followed the patients for three years, finding that their vision got better by almost three lines on the standard eye chart, CNN reported. There was no improvement in vision found among patients in the control group that didn't get the stem cell implant.
Robert Lanza, chief scientific officer at Advanced Cell Technology, said the study was the first to show that cells are safe to use in the long term and can help people with certain conditions. Advanced Cell Technology provided funding for the study.
"You can turn these into insulin-producing cells for diabetes, heart cells to treat heart disease," Lanza said. "They can be turned into nerve cells to treat Alzheimer's disease or Parkinson's disease or stroke."
The goal for the team now is to begin Phase 2 clinical trials by this year's end to treat more patients and see how well the implants perform, CNN reported.
Dr. Steven Schwartz, study co-author and ophthalmology professor at UCLA's Jules Stein Eye Institute, said while the study is the team's first step in developing a new treatment, they still need to do more work before the treatment is ready for clinical use.
"Regenerative medicine holds great hope and promise for people suffering from untreatable conditions," Schwarz said. "This study is the first small step towards achieving that purpose."
