Abstract
Age-related macular degeneration (AMD) is a progressive disease of photoreceptors and retinal pigment epithelium (RPE). Geographic atrophy (GA) is initiated by dysfunction and loss of RPE cells followed by photoreceptor loss. Thus, replacing lost and sick RPE with healthy cells may restore vision in GA. Human embryonic stem cells (hESC) and induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSC) are two main sources for this replacement. There are currently two major approaches to RPE stem cell integration with the human retina. The first employs bolus injections of RPE cell suspension under the retina and the second relies on prefabricated RPE stem cell sheets implanted in the subretinal space. Due to immune considerations, current hESC-RPE trials use immunosuppressant medications for a limited period up to, during, and after implantation. RPE stem cell grafts show great promise in restoring vision in patients with geographic atrophy due to AMD, as limited clinical trials in humans have already shown positive results, and more results are forthcoming.
| Original language | English (US) |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 16-25 |
| Number of pages | 10 |
| Journal | Current Ophthalmology Reports |
| Volume | 3 |
| Issue number | 1 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - Mar 1 2015 |
| Externally published | Yes |
Bibliographical note
Funding Information:Dr. Olmos reports funding from Science Based Health, outside the submitted work. Dr. Nazari and Dr. Rodger have no conflicts of interests to disclose. Dr. Humayun reports he is a founder of Regenerative Patch Technologies, outside the submitted work.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2015, Springer Science + Business Media New York.
Keywords
- Age-related macular degeneration
- Geographic atrophy
- Retinal pigment epithelium
- Stem cells
