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Thursday 28 May 2009

RAPID ROUNDUP: Stem cells restore sight to sufferers of corneal disease – Experts respond

EMBARGO LIFTED 1AM AEST THURSDAY 28 MAY 2009

Researchers at the University of New South Wales (UNSW) have used patients own stem cells, cultured on a simple contact lens, to restore sight to sufferers of blinding corneal disease.
The research team from UNSW’s School of Medical Sciences harvested stem cells from 3 patients and cultured them on a common therapeutic contact lens which was then placed back onto the patients damaged cornea for 10 days, during which the cells were able to re-colonise the damaged eye surface. Sight was significantly improved within weeks of the procedure, which is simple, inexpensive and requires a minimal hospital stay. The study appears in the journal Transplantation this week.

A video outlining the procedure can be viewed here

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Dr Bryce Vissel is Head of Research into Neural Plasticity and Regeneration at the Garvan Institute

"We are on the edge of a major revolution in understanding how to utilize stem cells for repair. Its exciting that the the scientists used the patient's own stem cells to repair the cornea of the eye. This work is further evidence of the therapeutic potential of stem cells and related technologies."

Professor Bob Williamson is Professor of Medical Genetics at the University of Melbourne and Chair, National Committee for Medicine, Australian Academy of Science

"This research, from the University of New South Wales, is important for two reasons. First, it demonstrates the value of stem cells to treat a real human injury, not an animal model in mice or rats. Because of this, there is every hope that it can be used widely to treat corneal damage, including eye damage from burns or injury. Second, because stem cells from the patient are used, there is no chance of immune rejection; there is a high safety margin.

This is another demonstration that stem cells will offer new opportunities in clinical practice, particularly when (as in this case) they can be used to improve existing treatment. Each use of stem cells will be different: some will use cells from patients, some from embryos or a fetus, others from cord blood or bone marrow, or (as reported by this group) stem cells from the tissue that is damaged, the eye."

A/Prof Kuldip Sidhu is Director of the Stem Cell Lab and Chair of Stem Cell Biology, at the University of New South Wales

“This use of limbal stem cells derived from patients own eye, grown in the lab and then transplanted back into the same patients eye using contact lens is a clever autologous strategy used by this group. This study on a small numbers of such patients with a significant improvement in symptoms is a step forward towards developing regenerative medicine with stem cells for other debilitating human diseases. A long term follow up of these studies is essential for efficacy and safety”

Professor Loane Skene is Professor of Law at the University of Melbourne and former Deputy Chair of the Lockhart Committee on human cloning and embryo research

“Provided that patients are told that the new procedure is experimental and possible risks are not yet known, and they then consent to have it, this use of a patient’s own stem cells is no more ethically contentious than a skin transplant”