New research from Massachusetts Eye and Ear has found treating donor corneas with a cocktail of molecules before transplanting to a host may improve survival of grafts and outcomes in high-risk corneal transplant patients.
For their technique, researchers reportedly targeted antigen-presenting cells in donor tissues with a combination of two cytokines — TGF-β and IL-10 — that work together to promote tolerance of the graft by the transplant recipient’s immune system.
For the research, scientists reportedly treated donor tissue with the TGF-β and IL-10 cocktail, and then grafting them onto high-risk recipient eyes of a preclinical model. According to researchers, eight weeks post-transplantation they noted a significant increase in graft survival — 68.7 percent of treated grafts had survived, while none of the control grafts had survived.
The study was recently published online in the journal Scientific Reports.
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Source: Massachusetts Eye and Ear