Stem Cell Cornea Fix: Better Vision May Be In Your Own Eyes

—June 23, 2010 -- More than 1.2 million Americans suffer cornea damage from injuries and more than 40,000 people a year undergo cornea transplants to repair otherwise irreversible eyesight damage, according to the American Academy of Ophthalmology.

But now, a new study suggests that many who suffer corneal damage by chemical burn may successfully restore their sight with transplants from their own eye stem cells.

Researchers in Italy studied a technique to repair damaged corneas by using patients' own unscathed limbal stem cells -- found at the edge of the cornea -- to grow new tissue that was then grafted into the patient's own eyes. The experiment was tried on 112 patients with corneas damaged by chemical burns. It was successful in 78 percent of patients, according to researchers, who followed the patients for 10 years after the procedure.

A corneal transplant involves removing the central part of the diseased cornea _ called the button -- and replacing it with a donor's button. It is similar to other transplants -- and the donor's body must match the recipient's to avoid rejection. The study published in the New England Journal of Medicine suggested a way to bypass the need for a donor match.

"Knowing that this type of procedure can sustain over a long period of time is the highlight," said Dr. Stephen McLeod, professor and chairman of the department of ophthalmology at the University of California in San Francisco, and a scientific committee board member at the nonprofit organization Prevent Blindness America. "This is the largest longest study [on limbal stem cell cornea transplants] so far."

Corneal injuries and diseases are the leading cause of visits to eye care clinicians, according to the National Eye Institute, an arm of the National Institutes of Health.

According to Dr. Sreedhar Potarazu, an opthamologist and CEO of VitalSprings, a health information technology company in McLean, Virginia, limbal stem cell transplants may have the potential to repair damaged corneas in workers who are at risk for chemical burns to the eyes, such as oil spill relief workers in the Gulf of Mexico who may be exposed to oil fumes and dispersants.

"Sometimes on television you can see people in the area where these chemicals are and they're not wearing goggles," said Potarazu. "These and others could turn into potential candidates."

More than 4,000 Americans suffer from chemical burn eye injuries in the workplace each year, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Besides chemical burns, cornea transplants are also performed for other injuries to the cornea, as well as side effects from inflammatory diseases such as lupus or shingles.