DEGENERATIVE EYE DISORDERS: CAN STEM CELLS BRING THE HOPE BACK?
In connection with the popular
saying that if anything isn’t broken, don’t fix it up; degenerative retinal
diseases do need immediate medical attention, considering the severity of the
issue. However, for many patients, who are experiencing a secondary condition
rather than a pathological visual loss; have a better option with the help of
stem cells therapies to delay disease progression. While the hope for the
better treatment outcome and true breakthrough is still on the way!
Stem Cell Therapy can be
offered as a restorative treatment approach, which has been acknowledged as the
current most accessible treatment and a potential alternative to surgeries. With
the help of modern medical interventions, it is possible to allow direct
infusion of cells at the targeted locations in the back of the eye. It should be
noted that human eye being a complex organ contains many different types of
cells, like pigmented epithelial cells, ganglion cells as well as photoreceptor
cells. Accordingly stem cells therapies can be employed to allow easy
replacement for dying cell. Another reason that has forced researcher to
acknowledge stem cells therapy as the better choice for degenerative eye disorder
is their immune privileged nature, which minimizes the risk of tissue
rejection; as the same has been so far a major concern for organ
transplantation. Technology is now equipped with many personalized tools to
measure internal ocular structure and their development through infusion of
stem cells and hence the feasibility as well as the effectivity of stem cell
application has been assessed through global research.
So far, a very crucial issue that
is bothering general public is to choose from variety of different available
sources of human stem cells. Although, the earlier emphasize were on
application of embryonic stem cells, but significant ethical as well as safety
concerns could have allowed researchers to explore for other adult sources. One
of the many supported alternatives involve application of adult stem cells
isolated from autologous tissue libraries, such as adipose tissues and bone
marrow, which are observed to be the mixtures of growth modifiers as well as
immune regulatory factors. These cells can be isolated from the said sources,
enriched in the laboratory under controlled environment and can be infused back
at the targeted site of injury. With the activation of alternative
developmental pathways, these cells can regenerate lost cells of the eye,
promote revascularization to improve blood circulation for better recovery and faster
functional restoration.
Some of the common indications, which are
identified to be treated with the help of stem cells therapy are retinal
diseases, that occur due to progressive neuronal loss along with loss of
supportive essential cells. Thus, with the help of replacement possibilities
offered by regenerative medicine; our future will include, fixing up those
degenerative disorders that no longer had cure.
x
Comments
Post a Comment