Shortage Of Fetal Tissue Forecast In Support Of Breakthough Blindness Treatment

A few countries, such as the UK, already have clear guidelines to ensure this does not happen. “The guidelines are meant to prevent the deliberate conception and termination for treatment of a particular person,” says Stephen Minger, head of the stem cell laboratory at King’s College London. In the US no such guidelines exist. Some of the other groups trying to develop treatments for degenerative eye diseases are pinning their hopes on stem cells.

Various kinds can be turned into retinal cells, and this week it was reported that the eyes of people as old as 60 contain specific stem cells capable of forming all the different cell types in the retina. But the few attempts to treat degenerative eye diseases with stem cells in animals have failed, as have attempts to transplant unstructured groups of cells into the retina. Aramant and Seiler think the key to their success is that they transplant intact, 2-millimetre-square sheets of the upper retinal layer. This preserves the circuitry of the light-sensing cells, as well as the supporting cells that nourish them. Aramant is dismissive of the stem-cell work, pointing out that no one is anywhere near recreating the complex structure of the retina using stem cells. Instead, his team is examining the possibility of transplanting retinal sheets from pigs genetically engineered to reduce the chances of immune rejection.