Macular degeneration patients regain sight with stem cell implants

April 29, 2018

Two patients with macular degeneration regained reading vision after receiving stem cells implanted with a new technique, according to researchers.

Professor Lyndon da Cruz from Moorfields Eye Hospital NHS Foundation Trust and his colleagues engineered a patch of retinal pigment epithelium cells from human embryonic stem cells to treat the patients, both of whom had suffered sudden severe sight loss from wet age-related macular degeneration (AMD).

The technique might also be used to treat the dry form of the disease, Professor da Cruz and his colleagues wrote in a report on the Phase I trial in Nature Biotech.

“The results suggest that this new therapeutic approach is safe and provides good visual outcomes,” Professor da Cruz said. “The patients who received the treatment had very severe AMD, and their improved vision will go some way towards enhancing their quality of life.”

Source: Modern Retina
Date: APRIL 9 – 2018

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