RESUMENUno de los campos de la medicina que más expectativas ha levantado en los últimos años es la terapia celular con células madre. El aislamiento de células embrionarias humanas, la aparente e inesperada potencialidad de las células madre adultas y el desarrollo de la terapia génica nos lleva a imaginar un futuro esperanzador para un importante número de enfermedades actualmente incurables. A lo largo de las siguientes páginas vamos a tratar de dibujar el panorama de la investigación con células madre, describiendo los principales logros en este campo así como algunas de las preguntas pendientes de responder. A pesar de las grandes expectativas, es fundamental que mantengamos un espíritu crítico y realista a la hora de analizar los avances científicos en este área.Palabras clave. Celulas madre. Terapia celular. Transdiferenciación. ABSTRACTOne of the fields of medicine that has raised the most expectations in recent years is cell therapy with stem cells. The isolation of human embryo cells, the apparent and unexpected potentiality of adult stem cells and the development of gene therapy lead us to imagine a hopeful future for a significant number of diseases that are at present incurable. In this article we will sketch out the panorama of stem cell research, describing the main achievements in this field as well as some of the questions that await an answer. In spite of the great expectations, it is essential that we maintain a critical and realistic spirit when it comes to analysing the scientific advances in this area.
The cornea is a transparent tissue microscopically constituted by 5 well differentiated layers. The corneal epithelium is essential for corneal transparency and is found in a state of constant renovation throughout life on the basis of the population of limbocorneal stem cells. The localisation of these limbocorneal stem cells seems to be in the basal layers of the limbocorneal epithelium, of vital importance for maintaining the micro-environment of these limbocorneal stem cells, which depend on a variety of intrinsic and extrinsic factors. Limbic insufficiency occurs when there is a partial or total loss of these limbocorneal stem cells. These clinical features lead to a corneal clouding with a resulting loss of vision. In these cases, corneal transplant only represents a temporary replacement of the corneal epithelium; it is necessary to carry out a prior treatment involving transplant of the autologous or allogeneic limbus, which enables regeneration of the population of damaged limbocorneal cells. To reduce the risk involved in the transplant of the limbus of the donor eye, techniques of cultivation of limbocorneal cells on the basis of small limbocorneal biopsies are proposed.
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