Cell-replacement therapy and neural repair in the retina

Abstract

Visual impairment severely affects the quality of life of patients and their families and is also associated with a deep economic impact. The most common pathologies responsible for visual impairment and legally defined blindness in developed countries include age-related macular degeneration, glaucoma and diabetic retinopathy. These conditions share common pathophysiological features: dysfunction and loss of retinal neurons. To date, two main approaches are being taken to develop putative therapeutic strategies: neuroprotection and cell replacement. Cell replacement is a novel therapeutic approach to restore visual capabilities to the degenerated adult neural retina and represents an emerging field of regenerative neurotherapy. The discovery of a population of proliferative cells in the mammalian retina has raised the possibility of harnessing endogenous retinal stem cells to elicit retinal repair. Furthermore, the development of suitable protocols for the reprogramming of differentiated somatic cells to a pluripotent state further increases the therapeutic potential of stem-cell-based technologies for the treatment of major retinal diseases. Stem-cell transplantation in animal models has been most effectively used for the replacement of photoreceptors, although this therapeutic approach is also being used for inner retinal pathologies. In this review, we discuss recent advances in the development of cell-replacement approaches for the treatment of currently incurable degenerative retinal diseases.

Cell Replacement Therapy for Optic Nerve Disorders

“…This is a mainstream medicine that has many therapeutic benefits [34] . Cell transplantation into damaged or diseased CNS tissues is a promising approach to treating various neurodegenerative disorders.…”

“…These are generated in laboratory and banked from select donors. The application of ES cells that has received the most attention in recent years is as a novel source of cells for cell replacement therapy for the treatment of a wide range of debilitating diseases [34] . A number of approaches are used to tackle with visual neuronal disorders.…”

RNA-Seq: Improving Our Understanding of Retinal Biology and Disease

“…Further, since the discovery, and practicality, of genome editing, affected patient samples are no longer necessary because mutations can be readily introduced into iPS cells. Additionally, the use of iPS cells offers clinical promise, as functional iPS-derived retina cells have the potential for therapeutic use (Carr et al 2009;Carr 2011;Schmeer et al 2012). Before clinical use, a thorough characterization is warranted and necessary, because iPS-dervived RPE have been shown to have a short lifespan after transplantation in the rat eye (Carr et al 2009).…”

Sodium Iodate Influences the Apoptosis, Proliferation and Differentiation Potential of Radial Glial CellsIn Vitro

“…Glial cells exhibit stem-cell-like properties and generate neurons, glia, or both. The major glial cell type in the retina is Müller glial cells [4]. Compared with the efficiency seen in lower vertebrates, including fish and amphibians, the efficiency of Müller glial cell regeneration is extremely low in mammals, although Müller glial cells represent the primary source of new neurons in mammals [5].…”