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Retinal regeneration
Wow....a major advance in fixing macular degeneration and diabetes induced blindness, among other disorders.....
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Scientists program blood stem cells to become vision cells
July 31st, 2009
University of Florida researchers were able to program bone marrow stem cells to repair damaged retinas in mice, suggesting a potential treatment for one of the most common causes of vision loss in older people.
The success in repairing a damaged layer of retinal cells in mice implies that blood stem cells taken from bone marrow can be programmed to restore a variety of cells and tissues, including ones involved in cardiovascular disorders such as atherosclerosis and coronary artery disease.
"To our knowledge, this is the first report using targeted gene manipulation to specifically program an adult stem cell to become a new cell type," said Maria B. Grant, M.D., a professor of pharmacology and therapeutics at UF's College of Medicine. "Although we used genes, we also suggest you can do the same thing with drugs — but ultimately you would not give the drugs to the patient, you would give the drugs to their cells. Take the cells out, activate certain chemical pathways, and put the cells back into the patient."
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"This work applies to 85 percent of patients who have age-related macular degeneration," Grant said. "There are no therapies for this devastating disease."
The work was supported by the National Eye Institute. Researchers removed blood stem cells from the bone marrow of mice, modified the cells in cultures, and injected them back into the animals' circulatory systems. From there, the stem cells were able to home in on the eye injury and become retinal cells.
At 28 days after receiving the modified stem cells, mice that had previously demonstrated no retinal function were no different than normal mice in electrical measures of their response to light.
Grant and UF have patented some technology involved in the research.
July 31st, 2009
University of Florida researchers were able to program bone marrow stem cells to repair damaged retinas in mice, suggesting a potential treatment for one of the most common causes of vision loss in older people.
The success in repairing a damaged layer of retinal cells in mice implies that blood stem cells taken from bone marrow can be programmed to restore a variety of cells and tissues, including ones involved in cardiovascular disorders such as atherosclerosis and coronary artery disease.
"To our knowledge, this is the first report using targeted gene manipulation to specifically program an adult stem cell to become a new cell type," said Maria B. Grant, M.D., a professor of pharmacology and therapeutics at UF's College of Medicine. "Although we used genes, we also suggest you can do the same thing with drugs — but ultimately you would not give the drugs to the patient, you would give the drugs to their cells. Take the cells out, activate certain chemical pathways, and put the cells back into the patient."
>
"This work applies to 85 percent of patients who have age-related macular degeneration," Grant said. "There are no therapies for this devastating disease."
The work was supported by the National Eye Institute. Researchers removed blood stem cells from the bone marrow of mice, modified the cells in cultures, and injected them back into the animals' circulatory systems. From there, the stem cells were able to home in on the eye injury and become retinal cells.
At 28 days after receiving the modified stem cells, mice that had previously demonstrated no retinal function were no different than normal mice in electrical measures of their response to light.
Grant and UF have patented some technology involved in the research.