Stem cell research is still in its infancy, yet there are promising results from two international teams who appear to be well on the way to finding a way to cure blindness. Adult stem cells have been used, and each team has found that parts of the eyes have been regenerated.
One of the teams is based at Cardiff University in the UK and the Japanese Osaka University. Lab rabbits were used, and they had induced blindness. The other team was made up of the Shiley Eye Institute, San Diego School of Medicine and University of California, plus Chines colleagues and they created lens cells, and this restored sight to infants who had congenital cataracts. Nature journal has recently published both sets of results.
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The first team used pluripotent cells, and they took them from a human and got them to a state where they can become various other cells. This research tops other ones as they have managed to create conjunctive, cornea and lens and the research on the rabbits showed that stem cells can appear to be a lens, cornea, and retina according to Cardiff University’s Andrew Quantock.
The second team managed to cure blindness in a human. Endogenous cells were used, and they are already in place. LECs will continue to produce lens cells during the lifespan. The trials prevented the need for surgery on the infants who were treated, and no artificial lens was needed. Healing was quick; there were less inflammation and post op.
