New stem cell therapy shows 92% success in vision restoration

A remarkable new procedure has restored the vision of 14 people with corneal damage in one eye. To treat this, researchers and surgeons transplanted corneal cells from a healthy eye into the injured eye. The treatment, called autoloud autologong lipal epithelial cell (was developed by a group of experts at Harvard medical school and Massachusetts eye and ear. This Stem cell therapy is still being tested and is not offered in any US hospital, but it gives hope to those who suffer from corneal damage blindness.

The importance of the cornea

Eyes are a complex organ that enables people to see. Unlike other vital organs, you can examine their various parts without special equipment. For example, anyone can easily see the sclera, the white part of the eye at the base of its structure. The IRIS is the color around the pupil that causes it to dilate and shrink depending on the light. The conjunctiva is the membrane that coats the iris and protects it from irritation. The Cornea is a protective membrane set in the dry that automatically changes and sharpens the focus. Without it, the vision would not have happened.

However, the cornea is vulnerable to injury, infection, burns and structural diseases, according to the Cleveland Clinic. This can leave people with vision loss and ongoing pain. To make matters worse, the injury can damage the epithelial cells, which live on the outer part of the cornea. As soon as it is reduced, these cells never regenerate, which means that the surface of the eye cannot heal. Currently, the standard care for vision rehabilitation is corneal transplantation, but experimental patients are not eligible.

“Current treatment options for LEMB STEM cell deficiency caused by corneal damage have significant limitations, including damage to the healthy eye from stem cell removal, or limited functionality,” Ula Jurkunas, MD, associate director of the Cornea service and HMS Profesar of Ophthalmology at Mass Eye and Ear, in medical news today. “Because of this shortage, they are not able to transplant the cornea, the current level of care, and they are often left blind in the affected eye and in great pain.”

Stem cell therapy that reverses blindness from corneal damage

So researchers began to investigate how to regenerate limbal epithelial cells. After nearly 20 years of environmental studies and collaboration with other experts, researchers have finally produced Calec Grafts ready for human transplantation. Jurkunas is the lead author of the 2025 study that wrote the proceedings. “Our first trial revealed that Calec was safe and treatment was possible,“Jurkunas said in the Mass General Brigham Newsroom.”Now we have this new data that supports that Calec is more than 90 percent effective in restoring the cornea. “ This can help people with severe corneal damage.

“In the Calec procedure, a very small biopsy is performed from the eyes of a healthy patient, which removes a small amount of limbal cells,“Jurkunas said.”After that, the cells are sent to the GMP facility at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, where they are expanded on the scaffold, a process that takes about two to three weeks. Stem cell grafts have been restored to Mass Eye and Ear. There, scientists transferred to the damaged eye. After a short recovery, the stem call game replenished LILABAL STEM cells and restored Cornea’s position. At this time, the patient can undergo a cornea transplant. Even in the case of some patients in our study, you do not need additional corneal treatment. “

At a 3-month follow-up after the trial, treatment with calec completely healed the vision of 50% of the 15 participants. At the 12-month mark, the overall success rate increased to 93%, and at the 18-month mark, it was 92%. “TThe discovery of hese is important because it shows that Calec’s performance is improved over time, which could translate into lasting benefits for patients following these treatments,Jurkunas said.

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The future of corneal therapy

The trial reported a high safety profile for patients. There was one case of infection eight months after treatment due to chronic use of contact lenses. Unfortunately, this treatment is only suitable for patients with one damaged eye. “Our future hope is to set up an allogeneic production process starting with LILBIL STEM cells from a normal cadaveric donor eye,“Said Jerome Ritz of Dana-Farber and the families of the O’Illy MEMICALS Mackorting Core Facility, where stem cell fall is performed.”This will hopefully increase the use of this method and make it possible to treat patients with damage to both eyes. ”

People involved in ophthalmology are excited about the prospect of reproducing lilabal cells. But others are skeptical about the availability of such treatment. Including Benjamin Bert, MD, a Board Certified Ophthalmologist, who was not involved in the study. “The explanation of how they can culture these cells requires advanced technology,” he said. “So it’s a question of whether this can be expanded to provide more patients, or will it be limited to these more academic institutions where they have the laboratories and the skills to do it.”

In the next phase of the study, the researchers will test the calec treatment in a larger group of people. And they plan to conduct a randomized controlled trial with a placebo group. This will help in finding the real effectiveness of the specific cell therapy for blindness. Ultimately, they hope to receive FDA approval and help bring the treatment to patients who need it.

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