A team of researchers from the RIKEN Center for Developmental Biology (Japan) has managed to restore sight to blind mice with a stem cell transplant even when retinal degeneration is in its terminal phase.
The objective of this experiment will be to test these advances in human patients with this same pathology ( end-stage retinal degeneration is one of the main causes of blindness in older individuals ), since there is currently no cure and the possibilities of stopping the disease. Treatment-based vision loss progression is quite limited.
Once the transplant was carried out, they observed that the retinal tissue derived from the induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSC) of the mouse established connections with the contiguous cells and responded to light stimulation, thus being able to restore visual function in the rodents used for the experiment.
“The work provides a proof of concept for the treatment of patients with advanced retinitis pigmentosa or age-related macular degeneration. After further studies in animals, we plan to conduct clinical trials that give the same results, ” says Masayo Takahashi, study leader.
Thus, stem cell-derived retinal tissues can form structured outer nuclear layers when implanted in animals with terminal retinal degeneration. During the experiment, almost half of the mice with this pathology managed to regain their vision and almost all the transplanted retinas showed some response to light stimulation. The key: using differentiated retinal tissue instead of retinal cells.
“Visual function could be restored to some degree thanks to iPSC-derived retinal transplantation. Those who have lost light perception may be able to see a spot or even a wider field of light again, ” he clarifies. Michiko Mandai, co-author of the work.
The study has been published in the journal Stem Cell Reports.
