NewsHealthA treatment to restore peoples sight by creating retina-like cells and implanting them into eyes could be available within a decade

Wednesday, 15th April 2020, 11:17 pm

A treatment to restore peoples sight by creating retina-like cells and implanting them into eyes could be available within a decade, scientists say.

The technique partially restored the vision of blind mice and researchers will now look to test it on humans.

The process involves taking skin cells from a blind mouse, or human, and reprogramming them into light-sensing photoreceptors used for vision.

Even mice with severely advanced retinal degeneration, with little chance of having living photoreceptors remaining, responded to transplantation, said Biraj Mahato, of the Health Science Centre at the University of North Texas, in Fort Worth.

Potential to restore human sight

This new treatment has the potential to restore vision in patients with retinal photoreceptor loss, said his colleague, Professor Sai Chavala.

Other attempts to replace dying photoreceptors have taken longer and involved creating stem cells from skin or blood cells and reprogramming them to become photoreceptors, which are then transplanted into the back of the eye.

Scientists have found a way to speed up the process by missing out the middle step of stem cell creation and directly reprogramming skins cells to become photoreceptors.

This cuts the amount of time taken to create photoreceptors for implant from six months to two weeks. The team hopes the technique could be used to generate a range of cell types to treat other diseases.

First study of its kind

This is the first study to show that direct, chemical reprogramming can produce retinal-like cells, said Anand Swaroop, of the US National Eye Institute in Bethesda, Maryland.

This gives us a new and faster strategy for developing therapies for age-related macular degeneration and other retinal disorders caused by the loss of photoreceptors.

During the operation, surgeons would pierce the retina and inject cells beneath it, a procedure that has been well performed for the delivery of viruses for gene and cell therapy.

The findings are reported in the scientific journal Nature.

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Hope that sight could be restored by reprogramming skin cells - inews