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Recent Advances in Retinal Stem Cell Therapy

  • Molecular Biotechnology of Adult Stem Cells (G Stein, Section Editor)
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Abstract

Purpose of Review

Progress in stem cell research for blinding diseases over the past decade is now being applied to patients with retinal degenerative diseases and, soon perhaps, glaucoma. However, the field still has much to learn about the conversion of stem cells into various retinal cell types, and the potential delivery methods that will be required to optimize the clinical efficacy of stem cells delivered into the eye.

Recent Findings

Recent groundbreaking human clinical trials have demonstrated both the opportunities and current limitations of stem cell transplantation for retinal diseases. New progress in developing in vitro retinal organoids, coupled with the maturation of bio-printing technology, and non-invasive high-resolution imaging have created new possibilities for repairing and regenerating the diseased retina and rigorously validating its clinical impact in vivo.

Summary

While promising progress is being made, meticulous clinical trials with cells derived using good manufacturing practice, novel surgical methods, and improved methods to derive all of the neuronal cell types present in the retina will be indispensable for developing stem cell transplantation as a paradigm shift for the treatment of blinding diseases.

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Acknowledgments

This study was supported in part by grants from the National Eye Institute (EY023427), Department of Defense (W81XWH-16-1-0778), the Shulsky Foundation (New York, NY), the Plough Foundation (Memphis, TN), the Lions of Arkansas Foundation, and an unrestricted departmental grant from Research to Prevent Blindness (New York, NY).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Ophthalmology, University of Tennessee Health Science Center, Memphis, TN, 38163, USA

    Sujoy Bhattacharya, Rajashekhar Gangaraju & Edward Chaum

  2. Department of Anatomy and Neurobiology, UTHSC, Memphis, TN, 38163, USA

    Edward Chaum

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  1. Sujoy Bhattacharya
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Correspondence to Edward Chaum.

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Conflict of Interest

Sujoy Bhattacharya and Edward Chaum each declare no potential conflicts of interest.

Rajashekhar Gangaraju reports grants from the National Eye Institute, grants from the Department of Defense, during the conduct of the study, others from Cell Care Therapeutics, Inc., outside the submitted work. In addition, Dr. Gangaraju has a patent US Provisional Patent Application No. US20150377908A1 pending, and a patent US Provisional Patent Application No. 62/294,489 pending related to stem cell biology.

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This article contains no studies with human or animal subjects performed by any of the authors.

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This article is part of the Topical Collection on Molecular Biotechnology of Adult Stem Cells

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Bhattacharya, S., Gangaraju, R. & Chaum, E. Recent Advances in Retinal Stem Cell Therapy. Curr Mol Bio Rep 3, 172–182 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40610-017-0069-3

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