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Corneal Regeneration: Current Status and Future Prospective

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Regenerative Medicine: Laboratory to Clinic

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Abstract

The human cornea is an avascular and transparent tissue which is responsible for the three-fourths of the total refractive power of the eye. It undergoes continuous stress due to the dust, pollution, infection and other environmental insults which may lead to dryness and abrasion injuries. Diseases of the cornea show wide spectrum of manifestations including corneal opacity, conjunctivalization, scarring, limbal stem cell deficiency and immune disorders and may result in blindness. The field of regenerative medicine has shown a great promise in the last two decades. Almost 30 years have been passed since the corneal epithelial stem cells were first reported to be localized in the limbus, a transition zone between the transparent cornea and opaque sclera. During these years, various efforts have been made for the corneal regeneration, including the cell and tissue engineering-based approaches and development of surgical modalities. However, a successful therapy for bilateral corneal diseases remains elusive. We put in here our perspective about the past, the present and the foreseeable future of regeneration and reconstruction of the human cornea.

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Abbreviations

AM:

Amniotic membrane

BSCVA:

Best spectacle-corrected visual acuity

CESCs:

Corneal epithelial stem cells

CLET:

Cultivated limbal epithelial transplantation

COMET:

Cultivated oral mucosal epithelial transplantation

COPs:

Corneal precursors

ECM:

Extracellular matrix

ESCs:

Embryonic stem cells

HCECs:

Human corneal endothelial cells

iPSCs:

Induced pluripotent stem cells

LESCs:

Limbal epithelial stem cells

LSCD:

Limbal stem cell deficiency

LSCs:

Limbal stem cells

MSCs:

Mesenchymal stromal cells

OSR:

Ocular surface reconstruction

SLET:

Simple limbal epithelial transplantation

TACs:

Transient amplifying cells

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Acknowledgements

Sachin Shukla acknowledges the funding and support from the INSPIRE Faculty grant (No. IFA14-LSBM-104), from the Department of Science and Technology, Govt. of India. We are thankful to Mr. Abhinav R. Kethiri and Ms. Harsha Agarwal for their help in designing some of the figures. We acknowledge Ms. Nazia and Mr. S.B.N. Chary for their help in providing the clinical photographs of the patient’s eyes.

Conflict of Interest: None.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Sudhakar and Sreekanth Ravi Stem Cell Biology Laboratory, Prof. Brien Holden Eye Research Centre, Champalimaud Translational Centre for Eye Research, Centre for Ocular Regeneration, Hyderabad Eye Research Foundation, Tej Kohli Cornea Institute, L.V. Prasad Eye Institute, Hyderabad, India

    Sachin Shukla, Vivek Singh, Indumathi Mariappan & Virender S. Sangwan M.D.

  2. Srujana-Center for Innovation, Tej Kohli Cornea Institute, L.V. Prasad Eye Institute, Hyderabad, India

    Virender S. Sangwan M.D.

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  1. Sachin Shukla
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  2. Vivek Singh
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  3. Indumathi Mariappan
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  4. Virender S. Sangwan M.D.
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Correspondence to Virender S. Sangwan M.D. .

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  1. Stem Cell Biology Laboratory, National Institute of Immunology, New Delhi, India

    Asok Mukhopadhyay

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Shukla, S., Singh, V., Mariappan, I., Sangwan, V.S. (2017). Corneal Regeneration: Current Status and Future Prospective. In: Mukhopadhyay, A. (eds) Regenerative Medicine: Laboratory to Clinic. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-10-3701-6_23

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