The blind can see the light

New regenerative medicine helps people with diabetic retinopathy see again

Written by ALLEN GUAN Aggie Science Writer Published on November 14, 2012 Filed under Science & Technology

Blindness affects all demographics within the United States. While some cases occur at birth, other cases occur as a side effect of degenerative diseases.

One group of researchers from UC Santa Barbara believes there is a simple cure. The team has been analyzing and developing a use for embryonic stem cells in the treatment of damaged retinal cells. This new treatment could effectively help cure some forms of blindness due to degenerating retinas.

There are two main causes of the deterioration of retinal cells. One is age-related macular degeneration, and the second is due to diabetes. The first is natural, exclusively affecting the elderly, but the latter has become a bigger issue. According to the National Institutes of Health, diabetes is the leading cause of blindness in the U.S. In the past decade alone, there has been a 21-percent increase in the number of cases of type 2 diabetes. This brings us to a possible side effect of diabetes: diabetic retinopathy.

Diabetic retinopathy is a disease prevalent in young adults due to the increase in obesity rates. It causes the deterioration of retinal cells, [and] we hope the use of stem cells can help repair this degeneration, said Dennis Clegg, a leading researcher on the UCSB team studying stem cell development. We have some sort of timeframe for our project, but right now weve just begun to explore this field. Were reporting back to the FDA the research on stem cells with our initial studies, and hopefully well be able to explore deeper.

In a healthy person, the body is able to secrete enough insulin to help absorb glucose, the smallest biologically active sugar. A diabetic person, on the other hand, is unable to absorb glucose normally, which results in free-floating sugars in the bloodstream. This glucose builds up over the course of several years, damaging blood vessels throughout the body, leading to diabetic retinopathy and damage to the blood vessels in the eyes.

The damage inhibits blood flow to the rest of the retina, which depletes the retina of oxygen and vital nutrients. The damage can also cause blood to leak, create scar tissues or even create a detached retina. The only treatment available is to physically remove the damaged areas of the retinas using lasers, and as usual, there are risks and unwanted side effects that could permanently impair vision. This is where embryonic stem cells can help provide the key to repairing damaged retinas. By manipulating the stem cells to mimic retinal cells, doctors can inject the cells under the retina and start the repair process.

Although the UCSB research team is pursuing a relatively new form of regenerative medicine, there are already some applications of stem cells in use.

If you inject [stem cells] into a knee thats damaged, you can regenerate the cartilage. This is currently being done with horses at the vet school, said said Gerhard Bauer, an assistant professor at the UC Davis Institute for Regenerative Cures. So here at UC Davis, we treat horses with stem cells from fat or bone marrow stem cells, and inject them into the joints so they can walk again we can do very similar things in humans, so they have many many applications.

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The blind can see the light