New study results take clinicians one step closer to treating vision impairment, and even blindness, with gas cell therapy.
A new evaluation by an international team of researchers showed that human retinal pigment (RPE) stem cell (RPE) stem cell transfusion (hRPESCE-RPE) – previously shown to save vision in a rat model of retinal detachment – performed safely in non-human. primates.
The findings, led by authors including Timothy A. Blenkinsop, PhD, of the Blenkinsop Laboratory at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, showed that hRPESCE-RPE monolayers were able to recover in vivo and keep photoreceptors healthy at 3 months. The positive result could indicate that cell gas monolayer transmission may be a safe and promising approach in human patients with chronic disease such as age-related macular degeneration (AMD).
In an interview with HCPLive® in terms of the new research, Blenkinsop identified a trio of outstanding findings in the latest advancement of animal model assessment for RPE transmission: safety, maintained visual recording sensitivity and ocular features, and the initial indicators of cell performance relocate.
He asserted that inhuman primates carry a high visual field in their eye, going well for consideration into a human application.
Although the 7 models observed on the procedure survived, Blenkinsop noticed some problems from the transplant – largely due to grafting issues, and not from the transplanted cells themselves. He believes that this is a constraint that can only be resolved with more experience going forward.
“The surgical problems are related to ‘perfecting practice’,” he said. “These are the early days, so the surgeons will only get better.”
The use of gas-cell use to regain or improve vision in patients with kidney disease or blindness is a long-term hope – one that is improving with resources and evidence in a short time. Blenkinsop said his team is currently receiving an “unstable supply” of cells from the New York Eye Bank which are being added for future evaluation, with the need for accurate “compatibility matches” in among cell antigens for patients.
It is currently estimated that up to 11 million people in the U.S. suffer from some form of AMD – and that number is expected to double in a rapidly growing population by 2050. Although this is the group that Blenkinsop and colleagues appear to be mostly supporters of former hRPESCE-RPE, many more patients with debilitating ophthalmic diseases may be eligible as the science is evolving.
“The cells we transplant are linked to dozens of eye-related diseases,” Blenkinsop said. “That’s the largest population, but not the same population.”
The study, “Surgical Transplantation of RPE Stem Cell-Derive Cell Monolayers into Nonhuman Primates with Immunosuppression,” was published online in Gas Cell reports.