Embryonic Stem Cells for Eye Disease Appear Safe

摘要

In the first published report from a clinical trial using human embryonic stem cells, two legally blind patients who received hESC-derived cells in one eye have experienced no harmful side effects and appear to have slightly better vision. Although preliminary, the results are an important milestone for the hESC field. Advanced Cell Tech- nology (ACT) ot Marlborough, Massachusetts, used hESCs to derive retinal pigment epithelium (RPE) cells, which nourish the retina's light-sensing cells. Collaborators at the University of California, Los Angeles, then injected 50,000 of these RPE cells under the retinas of a woman with Stargardt's macular dystrophy and another woman with dry age-related macular degeneration. Four months later, the patients have not developed tumors from the hESC-derived cells or shown signs of rejection, the team reported online this week in The Lancet. Both women showed some improvement on vision tests.