Scientists in the US have identified a way to enhance regrowth of human corneal tissue to restore vision.
Boston researchers used a molecule known as ABCB5 that acts as a marker for hard-to-find limbal stem cells, which reside in the basal epithelium of the limbus, for the regrowth.
The research, published this week in Nature, was said to be one of the first known examples of constructing a tissue from an adult-derived human stem cell.
Transplants consisting of human ABCB5-positive limbal stem cells resulted in restoration and long-term maintenance of a normal clear cornea in limbal stem cell-deficient mice. Control mice that received either no cells or ABCB5-negative cells failed to restore the cornea, researchers found.
The work, which provided promise to burn victims, victims of chemical injury and others with damaging eye diseases, was a collaboration between the Massachusetts Eye and Ear/Schepens Eye Research Institute, Boston Children’s Hospital, Brigham and Women’s Hospital and the VA Boston Healthcare System.
It was noted that tissue or cell transplants have been used to help the cornea regenerate in the past, but it was unknown whether there were actual limbal stem cells in the grafts. Researchers used antibodies detecting ABCB5 to zero in on the stem cells in tissue from deceased human donors and use them to regrow fully functional human corneas in mice.
‘Limbal stem cells are very rare, and successful transplants are dependent on these rare cells,’ said Bruce Ksander, co-lead author on the study. ‘This finding will now make it much easier to restore the corneal surface. It’s a very good example of basic research moving quickly to a translational application.’
