Researchers from the Buck Institute have reported one of the first demonstrations of long-term vision restoration in blind mice through the transplantation of photoreceptors from human stem cells, after blocking the immune response that causes transplanted cells to be rejected by the recipient.
According to researchers, one of the key issues surrounding stem cell therapy used for restoring visual function is making sure the cells survive in the body long enough to work. For their study, scientists reportedly used mice lacking the immune cell receptor immunodeficient IL2 receptor gamma (IL2rγ), which made them unable to reject transplanted foreign cells. The team found without the rejection process, there was a 10-fold increase of living human embyronic stem cell-derived donor retinal cells that matured and integrated into the retina. Researchers then transplanted the stem cell-derived photoreceptors into congenitally blind mice and found eyes responded to light and transmitted sight messages to the brain, even nine months to a year after photoreceptor transplantation.
The research team is reportedly planning to refine their work and figure out how it can be applied in humans.
The study was recently published in the journal Cell Stem Cell.
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