Progress of stem/progenitor cell-based therapy for retinal degeneration

Journal of Translational Medicine

Review

Zhimin Tang¹  Yi Zhang¹  Yuyao Wang¹  Bingqiao Shen¹  Ping Gu¹  Min Luo¹  Dandan Zhang¹ 

[1] Department of Ophthalmology, Ninth People’s Hospital, Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, 200011, Shanghai, People’s Republic of China;

关键词: Retinal degeneration;    Stem/progenitor cells;    Clinical trials;    Proliferation;    Differentiation;    Transplantation;   

DOI  :  10.1186/s12967-017-1183-y

 received in 2017-02-22, accepted in 2017-04-14,  发布年份 2017

来源: Springer

【 摘 要 】

Retinal degeneration (RD), such as age-related macular degeneration (AMD) and retinitis pigmentosa, is one of the leading causes of blindness. Presently, no satisfactory therapeutic options are available for these diseases principally because the retina and retinal pigmented epithelium (RPE) do not regenerate, although wet AMD can be prevented from further progression by anti-vascular endothelial growth factor therapy. Nevertheless, stem/progenitor cell approaches exhibit enormous potential for RD treatment using strategies mainly aimed at the rescue and replacement of photoreceptors and RPE. The sources of stem/progenitor cells are classified into two broad categories in this review, which are (1) ocular-derived progenitor cells, such as retinal progenitor cells, and (2) non-ocular-derived stem cells, including embryonic stem cells, induced pluripotent stem cells, and mesenchymal stromal cells. Here, we discuss in detail the progress in the study of four predominant stem/progenitor cell types used in animal models of RD. A short overview of clinical trials involving the stem/progenitor cells is also presented. Currently, stem/progenitor cell therapies for RD still have some drawbacks such as inhibited proliferation and/or differentiation in vitro (with the exception of the RPE) and limited long-term survival and function of grafts in vivo. Despite these challenges, stem/progenitor cells represent the most promising strategy for RD treatment in the near future.

【 授权许可】

CC BY   
© The Author(s) 2017