Stem cell therapy could cure blindness, claim scientists
By Daily Mail Reporter
Last updated at 4:55 PM on 09th April 2009
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In sight: Stem cells could offer a cure for blindness after clouding of the
cornea
People who face blindness after developing cloudy corneas could be cured with
stem cell therapy.
Scientists who successfully tested the treatment in mice believe it has enormous
potential for humans, especially in developing countries.
The cornea is the outer layer that shields the eye and also works with the lens
to focus light on the retina.
Infections, injuries, inherited diseases and poor nutrition can lead to scarring
of the cornea, causing it to cloud over.
In poorer parts of the world damage to the cornea is a major cause of impaired
vision and blindness. River blindness, an African disease spread by a parasitic
worm, leads to corneal damage and affects 17 million people.
The US scientists took stem cells from human corneas and implanted them into the
eyes of partially blind mice.
The animals had opaque patches on their corneas due to the lack of a structural
protein.
Three months after treatment with the stem cells, the cloudiness was gone and
their corneas were as transparent as those of normal mice.
Stem cells are immature cells that can develop along a number of different
pathways.
Previously the same team identified a population of stem cells in a layer of the
cornea called the stroma.