Wellcome Trust award could bring sight for sore eyes
30 November 2010
The international team recently received an award under the new R&D for Affordable Healthcare in India scheme - a partnership between the Indian government's Department of Biotechnology and the Wellcome Trust - to support development of a stem-cell-based therapy to restore sight in eyes where the cornea has been damaged by chemical injury or burns.
Stem cell therapy is already used to treat corneal damage in cases where a donor cornea is not available or suitable for transplantation, but it is expensive and not widely available.
The process involves isolating stem cells from the outer eye, which surrounds the cornea - either the patient’s own or from a tissue-matched donor. These cells are then cultivated to generate a transparent and functional cell layer that can be transplanted onto the patient’s eye to restore sight.
Currently, the best material available to grow these stem cells on is the membrane from the amniotic sac, which surrounds a fetus during pregnancy and is left over following birth of the baby. These can be obtained from maternity clinics but they are in limited supply and there is a risk of viral infection.
Researchers led by Professor Sheila MacNeil at the University of Sheffield are developing a synthetic, biodegradable carrier membrane that could offer a solution to this problem. The membrane is made from spun fibres of the same types of biopolymer that are used in dissolvable sutures. The new funding will be used to develop a more affordable method of manufacturing these membranes on a larger scale.
Meanwhile, at the LV Prasad Eye Institute in Hyderabad, Dr Virender Sangwan and colleagues are conducting clinical evaluation of the synthetic membrane as an alternative to the amniotic sac in stem-cell-based therapy.
The Institute is an advanced tertiary eye care centre offering high-quality, comprehensive eye care on an equitable basis, to millions across the state of Andhra Pradesh. This is achieved through a pyramidal network involving 17 secondary eye care centres in towns and 65 primary care centres in large villages in remote rural areas.
The centre at Hyderabad has so far provided limbal stem-cell-based therapy (focused on the edge of the cornea) to over 700 patients. If successful, the biodegradable synthetic membrane will provide a safer and affordable alternative to the human amniotic membrane, making this revolutionary new therapy accessible to more people across the world.
Watch this video to hear the researchers describing their work.
Image: Video still, showing a patient at the LV Prasad Eye Institute.
