“Latest Stem Cells News”

Dozens of people who were blinded or otherwise suffered severe eye damage when they were splashed with caustic chemicals had their sight restored with transplants of their own stem cells — a stunning success for the burgeoning cell-therapy field, Italian researchers reported Wednesday.

The treatment worked completely in 82 of 107 eyes and partially in 14 others, with benefits lasting up to a decade so far. One man whose eyes were severely damaged more than 60 years ago now has near-normal vision.

“This is a roaring success,” said ophthalmologist Dr. Ivan Schwab of the University of California, Davis, who had no role in the study — the longest and largest of its kind.

Stem cell transplants offer hope to the thousands of people worldwide every year who suffer chemical burns on their corneas from heavy-duty cleansers or other substances at work or at home.

The approach would not help people with damage to the optic nerve or macular degeneration, which involves the retina. Nor would it work in people who are completely blind in both eyes, because doctors need at least some healthy tissue that they can transplant.

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A have-a-go hero who was blinded in one eye in a chemical attack 15 years ago has miraculously got his sight back after undergoing pioneering stem cell treatment.
Russell Turnbull is one of eight patients with impaired vision who have been treated successfully with their own stem cells, in a technique developed by scientists and eye surgeons at the North East England Stem Cell Institute.
Mr Turnbull was hit in his right eye, causing massive damage to the cornea stem cells, leaving him with severely impaired vision, a condition known as Limbal Stem Cell Deficiency (LSCD) (…)

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Stem Cell Research using the patient’s own Adult Stem Cells has brought us another great discovery- Stem Cell Contact Lens. In Australia, a group of doctors in a research study treated 3 patients who had some form of cornea problems and they all were able to see after the stem cell treatment in which their own stem cells healed damage to their cornea

The Process of Stem Cells for the Cornea

1. The doctors removed Adult Stem Cells from the patient’s good eye
2. The stem cells were grown on a contact lens for 10 days
3. The contact lens was placed on the damaged eye for 3 weeks
4. The stem cells “blend” into the eye and repair the damage in the cornea

From the stem cell article:

The researchers, led by Dr Nick di Girolamo, said each person’s sight improved significantly within weeks of the procedure, and that it was a simple inexpensive technique which required a minimal hospital stay

Stem Cell Research Abstract

Also, here is the  stem cell research abstract for the cornea study.  Here are some of the actual results:

Results. A stable transparent corneal epithelium was restored in each patient. There was no recurrence of conjunctivalization or corneal vascularization, and a significant improvement in symptom score occurred in all patients. Best-corrected visual acuity was increased in all eyes after the procedure.

This technique is simple, non invasive, and uses the patient’s own stem cells– so the patient has nothing to lose and everything to gain by trying something like this.  What can be easier than popping in a contact lens?

Covering Old Stem Cell Ground?

However, it seems like they have doing something similar in India for a number of years. Notice in the story, that the doctors removed stem cells from the good eye of the patient. What happens if the patient has two bad eyes? Well there are  doctors in India are getting the stem cells from under the lip of the patient. This stem cell story didn’t get any run when it came out in October of 2008- but it probably should have. Read more about what this group of stem cell doctors in India have for stem cells for the cornea here

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Patients suffering from blindness now need not wait for donors as doctors have found a way to treat many with the stem cells derived from the cornea of a dead body.
Doctors at the AIIMS and a private clinic in the national capital are using corneal surface stem cells from a cadaver’s (dead person) eye for curing corneal injuries in many.

“We have used the corneal surface stem cells of cadaver’s eye for patients with corneal injury and have been able to correct many vision,” Dr Radhika Tandon, Associate Professor, Department of Opthalmology, AIIMS said, adding “this has been done on over more than 100 patients of corneal injury.” Usually, the standard practice has been a corneal transplant from human cadaver. But due to shortage of donors, doctors have become more specific in their mode of treatment.

The technique has come as a divine blessing to many patients, Tandon said.
“Instead of a whole cornea for one patient, we check the level of injury and use stem cells instead. This way we can help even four patients with one cornea,” Dr Asim Kumar Kandar, Consultant, Centre for Sight, said.
Stem cells exist in various regions of the eye but so far, they can be found at the outer edges of the cornea, he said.

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Stem cells injected into the eyes of mice with defective corneas returned the corneas to a more normal appearance, a new study has found.

Researchers hope the procedure might one day be in humans. About 40,000 such transplants are done each year in the United States.

“The stem cells took the scar-like matrix, remodeled it and made it more like normal,” said senior investigator James Funderburgh, an associate professor of ophthalmology at the University of Pittsburgh. “We were surprised and delighted.”

A report on the study is in the April 9 online edition of the journal Stem Cells.

The cornea is the transparent, front layer of the eye that serves as a protective barrier and, along with the lens, helps focus light. Corneas can develop scar tissue from chronic inflammation caused by infections or other conditions and by injuries, such as chemical or thermal burns or other trauma.

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As Pratik Patil babbles into the pay phone, there is little to indicate that the 27-month-old has been living out of hospitals for over a year. His opaque left eye tells a different story though – his impaired vision is obvious.
On Wednesday, doctors at Bombay Hospital in New Marine Lines announced that they were trying out a new stem cell therapy to restore vision to his affected eye. “In six months, we will know whether he can see or needs a corneal transplant,” said Dr Sonia Nankani of the hospital’s Taparia Opthalmology Centre.

Son of a farmer, Pratik’s saga began 18 months ago in Kagar village of Kolhapur. “We noticed his bloody stool and went to the taluka hospital,” said his father Arun on Wednesday. The child went to several hospitals before undergoing a four-month-long treatment for TB of the intestines at Nair Hospital, Mumbai Central.
“The condition returned and we rushed back to Mumbai,” Pratik’s father said. Though the toddler was soon cured of TB, his left eye suddenly appeared dry and developed a reddish rash. After making rounds of hospitals, they were referred to Dr Nankani, a cornea expert, on December 17 last year.

“I realised he had a stem cell deficiency,” said Dr Nankani. Limbal stem cells, which are present on the rim of the eyes, keep the eyes moist. An injury or as in Pratik’s case, malnutrition brought on by a disease, results in xerosis or dry eye. “As the cornea becomes dry, vision is affected,” she said.

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