stem cells cure blindness

Stem Cells Cure Blindness – Italian
researchers reported that stem
cell transplants cured blindness
in dozens of patients blinded by
chemical burns.
The study,
conducted on 106 patients from
1998 through 2007, shows the
eyes of three patients with alkali
burns before and after their
successful stem cell transplants.
Doctors used stem cells from
undamaged parts of the patients’
own eyes to replace the
damaged cornea and the
procedure resulted in a
successful transplant roughly
75% of the time.
In the study, published online by
the New England Journal of
Medicine, researchers took a
small number of stem cells from a
patient’s healthy eye, multiplied
them in the lab and placed them
into the burned eye, where they
were able to grow new corneal
tissue to replace what had been
damaged.
Since the stem cells are from
their own bodies, the patients do
not need to take anti-rejection
drugs.
One man who badly damaged
both his eyes 60 years ago now
has near-normal vision after
undergoing the procedure.
The stem cell procedure -which
requires patients to have at least
some healthy eye tissue
remaining– is still experimental
and is not being performed in
the US.
Earlier attempts at the same
procedure achieved only short-
lived results, but the Italian
researchers say they managed to
restore vision in patients for a
decade or more.
The study shows the vast
promise regenerative stem cell
treatment holds not just for
blindness, but for damaged
hearts, livers, and bladders, an
ophthalmology professor tells
WebMD.